Bill Kehrwald, who has worked in the wine business in the Louisville area for two decades, will open Staircase Wine Shop in downtown Bowling Green later this month.

You can soon add “wine shop” to the list of amenities available in downtown Bowling Green.

Renovations are in the works to transform the former Holland House coin shop that was part of the historic Quigley-Younglove building on State Street into what its new occupant is calling the Staircase Wine Shop.

“Wine is my real joy, and I enjoy helping people find a wine they really love,” said Bill Kehrwald, who plans to open the wine shop later this month in the space next to Meltdown Ice Cream at 900 State St.

Kehrwald, 50, said he came up with the name because the narrow space was the staircase in the early years of a building that dates to 1837.

“It’s fun to be in a place with so much history,” he said. “One picture we found shows this space being used as a liquor store in the past.”

Now Kehrwald, a Trigg County native who came to Western Kentucky University three decades ago aiming to be an athletic trainer, will rehab the space for a similar use. He plans to sell wine by the bottle and help oenophiles please their palates.

“I want to help people find something special and discover new things,” he said. “Part of it is understanding what people are telling you when they want something.”

Kehrwald is speaking from experience. Although he did work briefly as a student athletic trainer at WKU, he soon gravitated to food service and the world of wine.

“I bought a home brew kit at Chuck’s Liquors and got into home brewing,” he said. “When I started working at upscale restaurants in Louisville, I got into the wine program.

“I’ve run a couple of wine shops and run the wine program for a couple of nice restaurants over the past 20 years.”

Kehrwald moved to Bowling Green to be near his fiancee, Melinda Grimsley, and has been working at the Hickory & Oak restaurant while preparing to launch his wine shop.

He and Grimsley did their homework before launching the entrepreneurial venture, and they believe they can fill a niche in the downtown business environment.

“There are already people in town selling wine, but I think there’s a little more room for a specialty-focused shop,” Kehrwald said. “I’ll offer personalized advice, finding things that fit each person.

“Wine can feel very complicated. I like to help simplify things for people and let them do their own exploration.”

Grimsley, an Owensboro native who has lived in Bowling Green for more than a decade, is a fan of Bowling Green’s Fountain Square Park area and believes the wine shop will be a good fit in an area that already includes retailers selling coffee, cigars, chocolates and baked goods.

“I’ve had conversations with friends over the years about what they’d like to see downtown,” Grimsley said. “The idea of a wine boutique kind of place seems to fit really well. Every time we’ve mentioned it to people, the response has been universally positive.”

Kehrwald aims to open the wine shop in mid-May, carrying various wines and some “peripheral” gift items.

“I’m looking forward to joining the business community here in a way that will be exciting,” he said.