Our Story

In 2008, TJ and Hadley Douglas were sitting in the late afternoon sun in the Italian countryside near Colle di Val d’Elsa when Hadley handed TJ a glass of wine, tucked herself into a porch chair, and asked, “So what’s your five-year plan?” She never imagined that TJ’s answer -  to build a new kind of wine store focused on hospitality and access, a well-trained, restaurant-style staff, and a giant tasting table in the middle where people could gather - would change both of their lives. 

Two years later, that dream was a reality. The Urban Grape opened its doors and became the first store in the country to utilize TJ and Hadley’s proprietary Progressive Scale, a revolutionary way of categorizing wine by its body instead of by varietal or region. The Urban Grape quickly became one of the country's most successful independently-owned wine stores and was named the United States Small Business of the Year in 2021. The Urban Grape is also a 4-time Top 100 Wine Retail Store in America winner, a 2-time Wine Enthusiast Wine Star Nominee, a 4-time ICIC Inner City 100 winner, and a 6-time Best of Boston winner. The store has been nationally profiled in Food & Wine, The New York Times, NPR, Wine Spectator, and Wine Enthusiast, among others.

Additionally, TJ and Hadley were named EY Entrepreneurs of the Year in 2021, and Hadley was named an Inc. Magazine Top 100 Female Founder in 2020. 

Although their original store concept has expanded to additional businesses over the last decade, their commitment to creating more progressive access to the wine industry has never wavered. In addition to their business ventures, TJ and Hadley are the founders of The Urban Grape Wine Studies Award for Students of Color, and the authors of Drink Progressively: A Bold New Way to Pair Wine and Food. They live in Boston with their two sons.