A wine store on Sherman Avenue celebrated its grand reopening Thursday night under a new name with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and wine tasting.

Sips on Sherman, 1741 Sherman Ave., was previously part of the WineStyles franchise. Its owners, Maggie and Dean Noonan, decided to split from the chain and continue running the shop as an independent business.

“We’ve always been an independent wine shop,” Dean Noonan said. “Just because we were part of a franchise didn’t mean we weren’t an independent business. When we went into it, we thought it was better to have support and help, so now that we know what we’re doing, we are Sips on Sherman.”

The event was attended by around 60 people, who talked over wine from the shop and food provided by local eateries. Sips on Sherman, celebrating its sixth anniversary, chose its new name by holding a contest among customers, said Justin Koury, a wine buyer and sales representative at the store.

“We sent it out through social media and narrowed it down to the top 10 names,” Koury said. “Sip on Sherman won and Dean and I were sitting around the table and decided to just add an ‘s.’ So now it’s Sips on Sherman.”

Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) was given the honor of cutting the ribbon. She told the gathered crowd she was proud of the Noonans and looks forward to the future of Sips on Sherman.

“I’ve loved this place, and now they’ve gone private,” Rainey said. “I just hope that business flourishes. It’s not like going to a drugstore to get your wine. You come here, and you get personal service.”

Representatives of the Evanston Chamber of Commerce were also on hand for the ceremony.  The chamber has been organizing ribbon cuttings for new businesses for about a year, executive director Elaine Kemna-Irish said. She said the Noonans are very involved in the community, so she was glad to help them out with the event.

“It’s easy to find franchises or chains that come into communities and never get to know their neighbors,” she said. “From day one, Dean and Maggie made it Dean and Maggie’s wine shop. People are here because they want to support them.”

Dean Noonan and Koury both emphasized the store will still mostly be the same as before.

“It’s still the same great service and the same atmosphere that people have experienced,” Dean Noonan said. “We love providing great service to a community that embraces us.”

They also both said the only main difference will be that the store is no longer part of a chain.

“We get to have a little more fun and we don’t have to follow the rules anymore,” Koury said. “But we’re still the same great shop with the same great wine. It’s just a different name.”

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