A distant place was not one of the issues that Damien Graef and his wife, Robyn Semien, confronted early last year when they started their wine store, Bell & Bibber Wine and Spirits, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Their shop is a brief and good-trafficked block away from a subway station. "I understand it is a platitude, but it is about place, place, place," Ms. Semien said.

Ms. Semien, a producer of the radio show "This American Life," does not have a routine agenda at the shop. Her husband is the active partner, weekly, putting in around 55 hours of work. When they started the store, Mr. Graef was a restaurant manager and wine advisor. (He still serves as a wine advisor.) Neither had worked in wine retail and they had a 3-year old daughter at home in the time of launch. (They finally have a son in route.) Their choice to take the plunge was a little fluke, described Ms. Semien.

The deal did not work out, but the pair was intrigued by the thought of possessing a wine shop. Ms. Semien drove around for weeks scouting potential places before she saw a "For Rent" sign on what afterwards became their store. Procuring the lease entailed time consuming discussions, and getting a retail liquor license proved more tricky.

The application process for a retail liquor license in New York may be arduous and long, and it is more often than not high-priced, thanks to the attorney fees most applicants wind up paying. Applicants frequently request in person in the State Liquor Authority headquarters in Harlem, and then may be made to wait paying rent all of the while. He needed to give up the space he'd leased.

"When does it become prosperous? "Perhaps we're only supplying an excellent public service."

The licensing process was not as filled for Adam and Susan Fleischer, co-owners of the Wine Place in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Their permit was bought by them restaurant in Columbus. for $18,000 from a (In Ohio, specific kinds of permits could be transferred anywhere within the state.) Initially they just purchased a retail wine and beer permit and tasting permit (which permits instore tastings). The pair after bought an on-premises consumption permit, which permitted them to sell beer, wine and spirits for instore eating, and eventually a Sunday sales permit. In hindsight, Mr. Fleischer said he'd have promptly bought an on-premises consumption permit, as the skill to work almost like a pub has driven a great deal of traffic to the shop.

His previous career in healthcare technology proved to be a lonesome life, although an excellent living. His choice to take up a wine store was activated by means of an epiphany on the road.

Subsequently his wife along with he located a former hardware store in their own area that was for rent and renovated the space by themselves. "We actually reconstructed our shop from the ground up," said Mr. Fleischer, who took a small business class in Cleveland.

Mr. Fleisch "I just had $16,800 in savings when I began," remembered Mr. Weissler, 57. He had a long career in both retail and wholesale wine sales, largely on the East Coast, before striking out by himself, starting a wine shop that also serves snacks. His enterprise was financed in part by relatives and buddies, whose gifts and loans added up to about $12,000.er estimates that starting his shop cost him close to $100,000, including the permit, the rental and first stock of a couple hundred bottles (which did not seem like much in the big space). "But I could not manage to fill the shop up with wine in the beginning," he said.

The furnishings were a bit ad hoc, including IKEA bookshelves, seats from stuff and their house foraged from garage sales.

Now, Mr. Weissler has some 250 wines in stock, all ordered according to different groups he is dreamed up. There are wines coupled with music genres of music, food, television shows and sorts of bad weather. ("Three days of rain" is matched to a grand cru Riesling from Alsace.)

Mr. Weissler acknowledged he isn't certain how the company is going to work out. He's now short of cash, but another tenant in the building lately paid the rent of the store as a show of support. "It gave me faith I was on the correct course," Mr. Weissler said.

Not one of the retailers I talked with is making a lot of cash, and not an individual one challenged the wisdom in following a dream. They've only the correct combination of insanity, love and religion --and their clients are all the better off for it also.