CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — As many start their year off with Dry January, the owner of Humboldt Park’s non-alcoholic Bendición Bottle Shop shared how she's helping to foster a sober space this month and year round.
Bendición Bottle Shop has pretty much every non-alcoholic version of alcohol, with shelves stocked with dozens of cans of alcohol-free wines, handles of zero-proof gin and tequila and more.
“We've got ready-to-drink cocktails, wine, spirits, [and] non-alcoholic beers,” said owner Cristina Torres. “We do a lot of imported beers, so we have a selection here that's not available at other stores, or even like Binny's or anything like that.”
Torres founded Bendición in October 2022, two years after she started her own sobriety journey, which she said was the result of a failed attempt at Dry January in 2020.
“I gave up about two weeks in, and then afterward I was really sad about it and was thinking to myself, ‘Why can I not do 30 days without alcohol, like, it just doesn't make sense to me,” she said.
That forced her to analyze her relationship with alcohol, Torres said.
“I think I just woke up one day and realized I was tired of feeling sick every day and just realized that I had a really bad dependency on alcohol,” she said.
Once she was sober, Torres said she realized there weren't many fully sober adult spots in Chicago — so, the idea was born to create her own space.
“I wanted to provide a space where people could come and hang out, purchase whatever they wanted, sit, hang, [and] be present for the evening,” said Torres. “Just not even have to worry about the thought of alcohol whatsoever.”
Since then, Torres said she's received tons of positive feedback from other sober and sober-curious individuals.
"I was honestly really surprised at how open and welcoming everybody was to the idea of it,” she said. “And how many people reached out because they said that they needed this space, or even people who they knew — who had passed on who did struggle with alcohol, who would have benefited from having a space like this.”
To Torres, the positive response and success of the store proved that there is a big and active sober community in Chicago.
“Especially in a city where, you know, one of our pride and joys is giving an outsider a shot of Malört, I think more than anything, it just says that you're not alone,” she said. “You're never alone, even when it feels like it.”
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