The History of the Three Stores
John Recco’s vision for his stores began in Auburndale working in his parents’ Market while attending Newton High School. Partnered with his older brother Carl, they took over from their parents and converted the market to a successful liquor store. In 1975, they took a huge risk and built a large liquor store in a sleepy suburb of Wayland. With Bill McDermott on board, they began to focus on varietal wine sales at discount prices. Unfortunately John’s vision wasn’t completely shared with his brother Carl and they split up in 1978. Carl took the successful Auburndale store and John took the risky Post Road store in Wayland.

Bill was forging a name for the store and himself and the store’s wine following started to grow. John’s two children, Jack and Linda were finished with college and had grown up around the retail business, so John saw the need to expand. In 1979, John bought the tiny liquor store on Needham St. in Newton (the “Clock”). Jack moved back to the area from Houston to work the new store. Linda was already helping run the Wayland store and her husband, Mike O’Connell, came to work full-time to partner with Jack.

The Needham St. store was too small to fit John’s vision so it went through two expansions until in 1984 it was built to its current size. The focus on wine that John and Bill started was taking off. All of the hard work and risks were beginning to pay off and John decided to officially retire in 1990. John’s retail footprint and expertise left Jack and Mike a good foundation to work with. The two stores had dedicated employees, strong management, and John is never too far away with advice.

In 1995, John’s vision came full circle when his brother Carl’s family asked Jack and Mike to buy back the Auburndale store. All of John’s retail concepts are in place and the three stores work together to service the Metro West area of Boston and beyond. With the addition of Jack’s son, David, and Mike’s son, Mike, rest assured that the family operation will not sit still but rather grow with the area and the times.