Is a boozy Target in Portland's future? Retail giant applies for liquor license on February 06, 2016 at 5:00 AM, updated The internet brought tipsy shopping to a new level. Now, Target might be bringing that shame of checking your Amazon receipt in the morning and realizing you bought $50 of kitchen appliances you don't need to a store near you. Or, the retail giant might just be allowing beer and wine in its cafes. An incoming Chicago-area Target applied for two liquor licenses, according to USA Today. One is to sell take-home alcohol, one is to consumer alcohol on the premises. The news is exciting people who are tired of having to pre-game their shopping trip in the parking lot. Maybe the carts will have cup holders.Love wine, but wish you knew more about how to choose it?  Well, here’s to you, LearnVester! We’ve come up with nine ways to enjoy lovely wine on the cheap … without settling for cheap wine: Typically, the biggest bargains are unknown, or off-trend.

“Spanish Cava—Spanish sparkling wine—tends to be very good, even at $7 and $8 a bottle,” says Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, author of Drink This: Wine Made Simple.  She also notes that white wines made without expensive oak barrels, like most Sauvignon Blancs, will be cheaper than red wines, like Cabernet Sauvignon, that require barrels. For red-lovers, she suggests Merlot, which is under-priced because it’s unpopular right now. “Washington State Merlots from big producers like Columbia Crest or Hogue are great under-$10 options,” says Grumdahl. Drinking boxed wine has moved from cheeseball territory to downright chic. One of our favorites, Black Box’s Cabernet Sauvignon, is getting rave reviews from wine aficionados like Grumdahl. The bag-in-box technology shrinks around the wine as you squirt glasses out of the box, so it will last at least four weeks (!) without going bad. And, none other than the influential Wine Spectator gave a big thumbs up to Target’s Wine Cube Chardonnay California 2007.

These boxes hold the equivalent of four bottles of wine, and usually retail for about $20 (or less). So, you’ll save $7 or more per bottle (if you usually buy $12 bottles), and you’ll do your part for the environment, since boxed wine requires less energy to produce and transport. Wine Enthusiast Magazine has a nifty iPhone app, which will function as your virtual sommelier. Search the extensive database for the perfect wine to complement your meal. Savings will vary, but ordering with confidence is priceless. How do you keep your half-consumed Shiraz from turning into vinegar? Grumdahl suggests you buy a wine preserver. It’s a small canister with inert elements for you to spray into your wine bottle, which create a buffer against the air that makes your wine go sour. “This is an at-home version of the elaborate nitrogen gas preservation systems that many cutting-edge wine bars have,” she explains. One can will last for about 100 uses, and costs less than $9 on Amazon.

At about ten cents per use, you’ll save at least a few dollars for every glass that doesn’t go down the drain. Grumdahl likes this method of preservation better than vacuum sealers. Most good wine bars and restaurants are happy to split a dessert wine into two glasses. best italian table wineNot that many people get dessert wine, and “just about everyone in the industry wishes people would drink more sweet wines,” according to Grumdahl. best wines under 20 dollars fall 2015Savings: $6 to $8.10 best wine bars in london Most wine stores will give you a discount (typically 10%) for buying a case, with some shops offering reductions when you buy just a few bottles. best cheap fruity red wine

If they reduce the price by 10% for a case, see if they’ll give you 5% off for buying six bottles. If you normally buy bottles of wine for $12 apiece, you’d save $14.40 per case. helps you find great wines for under $10 a pop (with plenty of picks at $4, $5, and $6). glass of wine coupleIt was started by wine aficionado Harry Orlove as a labor of love. best wines to have with pizzaMembership is $25 annually, but Harry makes some articles with purchase suggestions accessible to everyone. Buy some of his recommended picks (locate them near you) and you’ll get a glass of vino for less than a cup of coffee. Savings: As much as $7 or $8 per bottle. We know that it sounds nontraditional to take your partially-consumed bottle of wine to go, but the wait staff in Mario Batali’s famous NYC restaurant Babbo were unfazed when we asked about it.

Apparently, New Yorkers don’t ask very often for their wine to go because they are unaware that they can do so without breaking open container laws. Depends on your state; check here to see if it’s legal where you are. Even if it is legal, be sure that your restaurant wraps up your wine bottle in a way that complies with the law in your particular state, not to be opened until you get home. Depending on how expensive your bottle was, you can save anywhere from $15 to vast sums.CLOSExEmbedTarget, which cultivated a following among fashionistas who considered themselves thrifty yet fabulous, plans to try to rebound from lackluster sales by becoming more digitally savvy.The latest retail giant to fall victim to online phenomenon Amazon, Target missed the mark on analysts' earnings expectations Tuesday as it said its fourth-quarter store sales were weaker than expected. The chain projected a slump through the rest of the year, sending its stock price plunging.“Our fourth quarter results reflect the impact of rapidly changing consumer behavior, which drove very strong digital growth but unexpected softness in our stores,” Target CEO Brian Cornell said in a statement.

The fourth quarter, which includes the crucial holiday shopping season, saw Target revenue fall 4.3% to $20.7 billion, which included the phasing out of the company's pharmacy sales after it sold that business to CVS. Net earnings fell 42.7% to $817 million, reflecting earnings-per-share of $1.46. Those figures trailed analyst expectations of $854 million and $1.51 a share.The results concerned investors a week after archrival Walmart reported an encouraging financial performance. Target shares fell 12.1% to close at $58.82.The retailer said it is accelerating its transition to digital sales as it, along with Walmart, does battle with online giant Amazon. Cornell said 2018 will be a "year of investment," though a return to growth won't come until 2019.The big-box chain also pledged new investments and new brands, changes that industry watchers say are critical to avoid being sandwiched between heavy discounters like T.J. Maxx at one end and high-end apparel sellers like J. Crew on the other.“

At the very low end are the very affordable (retail) knockoffs of designers and at the high end you have the specialization, and it’s hard for Target to respond to both,’’ says Matt Sargent, senior vice president of retail for Frank N. Magid Associates."Their response is smart to invest in private labels"Target already has some of its own brands including Cat & Jack, a popular children's brand. But Cornell said the company would accelerate investmenti12 new brands expected to generate $10 billion of the company's annual sales over the next two years.Neil Saunders, managing director of the retail analytics firm Global Data said that while "unique brands should help to provide differentiation ... Target already has some strong (owned) brands which get lost in a sea of merchandise on the shop floor. Again, more radical thinking is needed in terms of how stores look and feel, and how the merchandise is presented to the customer.''For the period ended Jan. 28, sales at stores open at least a year along with digital offerings fell 1.5%, hitting the bottom of Target's projected range.

That included a 3.3% decline at physical stores open at least a year.Target predicted a "low-to-mid single digit decline" in first-quarter comparable sales, as well as a "low-single digit decline" for the full year. Cornell said Target is going to try to get away from promotional discounts and move back to consistently low prices.For many shoppers, Target remains the fashion darling that inspired countless trend watchers to dub it Tarjay for being both chic and affordable.Martin Robi, who was browsing at a Target in lower Manhattan on Tuesday, said he doesn’t shop at the chain frequently but “my friends still really like it. It’s a good brand that’s clean and stylish.’’Danielle Cohen appreciated Target being a one-stop shop for products ranging from groceries to prescriptions. “I don’t focus on their clothes,’’ she said. “But it’s great to have a place I can buy food and find a pharmacy . . .We buy a lot of our stuff online, but if I can’t wait for two days for it to ship from Amazon, I’ll go to Target.’’