Wooster native Bret Defibaugh has been an enthusiastic supporter of the local community his entire life. From his support of local organizations and sports teams to his growing assortment of beverage stores, his name and reputation tell the story of a man dedicated to his community. While visiting with Bret recently, he took the time to provide us with this description of his businesses and his community involvement;
After taking over Bowman Beverage, we've added coolers, changed the appearance of the outside, and even changed our name. The store was originally called Bow Man Beverage and the letter B was a bow and arrow. Over the years, I removed the bow and arrow, changed the name to Bowman to reflect our address, and added the champagne glass and bubbles to the sign.
Originally, the store didn't have the lottery when I bought my partners out, but in my second year, we became the third lottery agent in the Wooster area and we continue to sell every product the Ohio Lottery has to offer. Since that time, they've added over thirty-five new agents in the Wooster area. Even though there are currently over twelve thousand agents in Ohio, we've been the Ohio Lottery Agent of the Week an unprecedented three times in the past twenty years due to the amount of tickets we sell, the amount of tickets we cash, and the fact that we offer all the games. It's the highest award the Lottery Commission offers. As of last year, we were the largest independent lottery agent in the region and our store has had a $100,000 Buckeye Five winner and a $100,000 Kicker winner.
Bowman Beverage sells beer, wine, and 42 proof liquor. We specialize in a lot party supplies and we have a convenient drive up window. We sell convenience items like soaps, bathroom tissue, hand towels, and basic convenience store items and we do a lot of beverage catering.
We're one of the few stores in the area that does beverage catering and it's been very successful for us. We can work directly with the local restaurant's and party center's customers and help them plan for their needs in addition to providing them with free delivery of their beverages. We provide recommendations for beverages that will work well with their menus, serving suggestion, and we help them determine how much they'll need. For example, if a customer is having a wedding reception for two hundred sixty people and they want a champagne toast, we know that they seat eight people at each table so they'll need thirty-two bottles of champagne. If one side of the family doesn't drink, we'll send along a combination of champagne and non-alcoholic champagne. We also recommend that the Maid of Honor and the Best Man pop the corks and take a bottle apiece with them and serve the champagne to the guests. Not only is the champagne not wasted by having an open bottle on each table, but we'll probably only use fifteen bottles rather than thirty-two. Nobody's insulted because there's liquor setting on their table and it's a real nice personal touch because the Maid of Honor and the Best Man get to say "hello" to everyone and mingle with the guests they haven't seen for a while. It's a nice touch and it saves money! We do the same thing with the beer and wine and we have a wide selection that includes anything available in the State of Ohio. We'll even special order beverages that we don't normally carry to keep our customers happy.
We're also affiliated with the West Lincoln Way Drive-Thru, the Ice House, and about four years ago, we opened our newest location is Orr Beverages in Orrville. The Orrville store, run by a really good partner, is a look-alike to this one and has the lottery, a drive-up window, and everything we have here. My daughter-in-law now runs the West Lincoln Way Drive-Thru and my son is over at the Ice House Drive-Thru so we are a family owned and operated business.
In 2000, we were chosen as the Small Business of the Year by the Wooster area Chamber of Commerce and I'm personally involved with the Exchange Club, the Wooster Elks, and the Lamplighters. We promote Wooster High School and have had the same full back page advertising article in the Winter/Fall program for the past twenty years. We have sponsored a Wooster Youth Baseball team for the past twenty years, too, in addition to a young women's softball team, a bowling league, and many school and local events.
We've catered everything from weddings at the lodge at Mohican State Park to thirteen different consecutive parties when the Italian Fest was being held downtown. We cater for just about everyone in the area, so, if you're planning a wedding reception or party, let us do it for you!
When you're having a party, buying your lottery tickets, or needing to quickly pick up an item at the store, Bowman Beverage is always here to help. Stop by the store today and don't forget to tell them that The Advocate sent you!
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