ROSWELL, Ga. — Once a week, Oak Street Bottle Shop hosts “Five Dollar Friday,” a community gathering that harkens back to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Top Job Beverage & Events owns a warehouse at 75A Oak Street, and co-owners Scott Harb and Michael Fabian have set up shop in historic downtown Roswell.
Oak Street Bottle Shop is an unsuspecting place where friends and family gather to reconnect with those they spent time with while the world was in quarantine.
Herb said business took off after hosting the public outside the bottle shop every day during the summer of 2020, which in some ways surprised him.
In 2018, the company acquired an approximately 2,000-square-foot industrial facility to support its primary revenue stream of catering to festivals and concerts.
Top Job began catering small events in 2012 as a partner with local Roswell restaurants.
Co-owner Scott Herb said due to the growth of their catering business, he and his business partner decided to purchase the building and obtain their own alcohol license through the city of Roswell.
This particular license is for the craft beer and wine market, allowing the Oak Street warehouse to double as a taproom and catering role.
Roswell’s alcohol license regulations require employees to work at least 20 hours a week at the facility. The co-owners said that before the pandemic, they spent some time at the establishment just to maintain their alcohol license.
Herb and Fabian also run Top Job Hospitality, a staffing agency located in historic downtown Roswell, just off Park Square Court.
“I had to work another day, so I just came here and did some work, mostly catering and a little bit of staffing,” Herb said. “Then COVID-19 came along…all the events were cancelled.”
More than 300 concerts, festivals and private events across the Atlanta metropolitan area have been canceled, along with the company’s main source of revenue.
Top Job Beverage & Events partners with city governments, local organizations, and individuals to serve alcohol at community gatherings. This partnership, which shares revenue from events with organizers and businesses, works well in non-pandemic times.
“Everything was shut down and we couldn’t do anything,” Herb said. “My wife said, ‘Scott, you have an alcoholic beverage and beer license, why don’t you open the garage door?'”
Shortly after, the front of the warehouse became a package store, and once things took off, a business partner opened a taproom in the back.
“This was the beginning of the Oak Street Bottle Shop you see today,” Herb said.
Friday is a big day
Stores are operating differently now, given that pandemic-era restrictions have ended. First, they are usually only open on Fridays, not every day.
While the hospitality and catering business has rebounded since 2020, Top Jobs has been busy in other areas as well. The property is still rented out for private events, and there’s always a party on Five Dollar Friday.
Herb said the facility is typically rented for high school and college graduations, corporate team-building events and the occasional birthday.
The alcohol industry is profitable enough that Top Job’s Five Dollar Fridays allows co-owners to gather their “pandemic community” once a week.
“This is my baby. We only come here one day a week,” Herb said. “It was every day during the pandemic.”
Five Dollar Fridays are still happening at 75A Oak Street. Most of the growing crowd met and became friends at the bottle shop during the pandemic.
“We had a cookout in May 2020 and about 30 people showed up,” Herb said. “We’ve got 300 people here and more and more big bands.”
Scheduled fall bands include Corporate Therapy on October 4th, M80 Rocks on October 11th, Zachery Mannino Band on October 18th, Justin on October 25th, Nostalgia ’80s Experience on October 26th, Includes 40HZ on November 1st and Bare Bones Band on November 8th.
It’s now a community, and people continue to come together to hang out with friends they met four years ago.
local craft beer
Oak Street takes pride in its selection of local craft beers, including Six Bridges Light Lager from Johns Creek, Social Fox Wrecker from Norcross, TKR Pilsner from Tucker, and the Lower Variant Canton Street IPA.
This bottle shop stocks craft beers from all over the United States, with shelves stocked with all the favorites from Georgia-brewed beers and name brands.
We also have a wide selection of red, white and sparkling wines.
In summer 2023, Roswell Mayor Curt Wilson served as celebrity bartender at Roswell’s Alive while the Bottle Shop supported a fundraiser for North Fulton Community Charities.
Seemingly out of context, Oak Street Bottle Shop has established itself in downtown’s historic Roswell community and beyond.
“There’s always a moment when things change,” Herb said. “The people who were around you during that time, those people are the ones you form new relationships with.”