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Tom Noonan and his wife, Jackie, took on the challenge of starting their own business in 1999.
Fourteen years later, they said it’s all been worth it.
Noonan’s, a state liquor store at 1350 Main St. on Hamilton’s West Side, has grown from a three-person staff — the Noonans being two of those employees — to its current staff of 11 people. Noonan’s carries more than 250 varieties of beer and microbrews, more than 3,000 labels of wine and nearly 5,000 labels of liquor, Tom Noonan said.
“I walked into this business not knowing too much about it,” he said. “But 14 years later, we’re still at it and it’s been great.”
Noonan did have experience in the business world, however. And he had a good mentor in his father, Jim Noonan, who owned and operated Webb Noonan Funeral Home.
Tom Noonan worked at the funeral home for 18 years, absorbing as much information as he could about how to operate a business.
“It was something totally different than what he had been used to doing,” Jim Noonan said. “It’s been a learning process, but (Tom) has done a great job and I’m proud of him.”
Tom Noonan took over the State Liquor Store previously located in the Brookwood Shopping Plaza while he and his father searched for a free-standing location.
They didn’t have to look far. Tom Noonan bought the former Bill Knapp’s Restaurant building that had been vacant for several years.
“We gutted everything here and later added on part of the warehouse,” Tom Noonan said. “In the beginning, we were working 75-80 hours a week. The first six months were tough, and then that first (Christmas) holiday came and it was crazy, buy it has gotten easier and I don’t work that many hours now.”
“I had a lot to learn, but it has definitey been a good decision,” he said.
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