By Kaaren Valenta

  Greg and Terri Cowan would never have wound up owning Church Hill Wines & Spirits if it had not been for the earthquake that destroyed their home.

When the Northridge quake hit the San Fernando Valley in northern Los Angeles at 4:31 am on January 17, 1994, the Cowans were sleeping.

“All we could think about was getting our 2-month-old son and getting out,” Mr Cowan said. “Afterwards we said ‘that is it’ and we decided it was time for a life change.”

The earthquake, which reached a magnitude of 6.7, turned out to be one of the costliest natural disasters in US history. It caused 57 deaths, more than 1,500 injuries, and did moderate to severe damage to 12,500 buildings.

One of those destroyed was the Cowan’s condo building, so they wound up living with Greg’s parents, David and Shirley Cowan, for the next six months. During that time Greg and Terri Cowan came east, traveling from New York to Boston to find a new home, and finally settled on Fairfield County.

Terri gave up her stationary and invitation business; Greg resigned from his job in industrial sales. They found a place to rent in Stratford.

“I quickly found another job in industrial sales,” Mr Cowan said. “But it is a very difficult industry, especially with all the foreign competition. I’m 41 years old now, I had spent 22 years in industrial sales, and I wanted to be in a job that I knew I could have for the next 20 years.”

Earlier this year the couple decided that a liquor store would be ideal.

“People like wine, they like beer, so why shouldn’t I be the guy to help them?” Greg explained.

The Cowans found a real estate broker to help them in their search, then learned that Church Hill Wines & Spirits at 20 Church Hill Road was for sale.

“As soon as I walked into the store, I liked it,” Mr Cowan said. “It is an established business that has been here for 40 years. People know it and it’s a great town. It’s an easy 30-minute door-to-door ride for me. I was a road rep driving thousands of miles a year so this commute is nothing.”

The Cowans officially purchased the liquor store last Thursday morning, October 2, then Greg drove to Hartford to pick up the required liquor license. They were not able to open the store until he got back at 2 pm.

“There hadn’t been a Budweiser delivery because we weren’t open, then the truck broke down and it didn’t show up until 4 pm,” Mr Cowan said. “Thank heavens my parents were here to help out because it was pandemonium. The customers were coming in and I was trying to get the beer into the coolers.”

Mr Cowan’s parents had also moved to Connecticut, settling in Milford, and will be helping out occasionally in the store. Terri Cowan works as a recruiter for Career Blazers in Stratford, but is also helping out in the store, designing custom gift baskets.

“We want to really get into gift baskets,” she said. “We also plan to add a lot of wine-related gift items, and to do wine tastings, both private ones in people’s homes as well as corporate functions and for groups. Wine tastings are a lot of fun.”

Mr Cowan said the transition between the previous owners, Brad Utz and Kevin McCafferty, was very smooth.

“It was a nice transition. I worked here for a couple of weeks so many of the customers already know me,” he said. “After my high-pressure job in industrial sales, it’s nice to have customers come in, say ‘hi Greg’ and smile.”

Church Hill Wines & Spirits is open Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 8 pm. For more information call 426-4606 or check the Internet at churchhillwine@aol.com.