Jessica Norris Granatiero began working in the mid-1990s in the field of public relations, employed by firms in Bethesda, Md., and Washington, D.C., where she especially enjoyed working with clients in the field of mental health.
Granatiero already had a 1996 bachelor’s degree in communications/marketing from Salisbury University in Maryland, but she went on to obtain a master’s in psychology in 2003 from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. She studied domestic violence and child abuse, working with researchers from the National Institutes of Health.
After she married and relocated to Rhode Island, she worked for a communications firm in Cambridge, Mass., for a few years, but the vision of owning and operating her own retail wine shop just wouldn’t go away.
“I wanted to provide customers with a place that is not intimidating where they could truly learn about wine,” she said. She wanted a shop with exceptional customer service and with inventory arranged in a customer-friendly way.
And that is exactly the kind of shop she opened in 2006.
Wine at The Savory Grape wine shop in East Greenwich is categorized by its body style, rather than by region or country as in other stores, with well-written descriptions that make it easy even for a novice to make a wise selection. Each weekend, experts offer discussions about wine and provide a forum where customers can sample various vintages.
Her shop has grown exponentially in just four years, Granatiero said, and “in October 2009, during a recession, we moved The Savory Grape to a larger retail space, immediately doubling in size, inventory and sales.”
She supports many charitable organizations, including the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, the Rhode Island Community Action Association and the local chapter of the American Heart Association, as well as numerous nonprofit groups in the fields of business, women, health and education. •
