Miriam Yoo Of Flask & Field Is In High Spirits

Miriam Yoo, the founder and owner of , a local wine and spirits shop at , might be the only optimist left. As the pandemic ravages brick-and-mortar businesses across the country, exacerbating a decades-long decline in retail with the rise of online shopping, small businesses like hers are closing in droves. But instead of succumbing to despair or giving up and cutting her losses, Yoo—once a successful entertainment lawyer—pivoted. “We were probably open for a year and a half before the pandemic hit. In the beginning there was this tone of ‘save small businesses!’ But you know the tone sort of evolved throughout. Now it’s ‘save yourself.’ It is tricky being a retail business, and I don’t sell essential goods,” Yoo explained. Even without that “essential” label, Yoo guided her local shop through countless challenges and a systematic reinvention of their business model. With “99.9% of (the) business” coming from in-person shoppers before March, Flask & Field needed to overhaul its online storefront. But despite Yoo’s lack of prior experience in the retail or wine worlds, her store took the new opportunity in stride.