Photo by Eric Ayres Betsy Sweeny, left, and Alex Panas, new co-owners of Good Mansion Wines in East Wheeling, celebrate the transition in ownership of the business on Friday, when the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce welcomed the new owners with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

WHEELING – One of Wheeling’s most celebrated gems – nestled amongst historic homes in East Wheeling – opened a new chapter this month as the new owners of Good Mansion Wines, Betsy Sweeny and Alex Panas, raised a glass to a remarkable past and a promising future for the beloved business.

Family members, neighbors, city officials and fellow business owners gathered together Friday outside the L.S. Good Mansion at 95-14th St., where the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate Good Mansion Wines’ new ownership.

Nearly 20 years to the date when local entrepreneur Dominick Cerrone opened a shop for hard-to-find imported fine wines inside a neighborhood landmark, the new owners hope to maintain the premier-quality goods, services, reputation and charm that Good Mansion Wines has built over the past two decades. They just plan to try to introduce more people to what some consider to be one of Wheeling’s best kept secrets.

“A lot of people think it’s just wine. They hear ‘Good Mansion Wines,’ and they see the front of the shop, but they don’t even know the back exists,” Sweeny said. “But we do lunch every single day, we’re open seven days a week, 363 days out of the year. So there really is something for everyone.”

Promoting and championing the assets of the Friendly City have been part of roles Panas and Sweeny have played during their professional careers. Both women have worked for Wheeling Heritage, which focuses its efforts on revitalizing the city and preserving its rich heritage.

Acquiring Good Mansion Wines – and the L.S. Good Mansion – allows them to continue those efforts in a new way.

When they heard that Cerrone as proprietor and his partner, Olivier Thiry, who has worked as the venue’s pastry chef over the past 10 years, were looking to pass the torch with the business and relocate to Italy in the future, Panas and Sweeny began conversations in late 2024 about an exciting opportunity to take the helm.

“They were looking to eventually retire, and we were looking to eventually do something new with our careers, and it kind of just happened to be a really good fit,” Panas said.

“We’ve both been customers for a long time, and Dominick and Olivier are neighbors,” said Sweeny, a historic preservationist who notably renovated her own East Wheeling home – a 1890s Victorian townhouse.

Although Cerrone and Thiry plan to retire to Italy in the next year, they have been helping with the transition of ownership of Good Mansion Wines over the past year and plan to stay well into this year.

“We wanted to learn everything inside and out knowing that their goal was to do this around the beginning of 2026,” Sweeny said.

There were openings in positions at the shop a year ago when conversations began about taking over as owners, the women noted.

“We were able to come on staff work with them and really be prepared for this next chapter,” Panas said. “I think that’s one of the great benefits, too, of the transition taking place now. They’re going to be staying on as staff and mentoring us through the end of this year. So there should be a lot of continuity between what customers come to expect and what we will continue to offer.”

Sweeny noted that Cerrone and Thiry still have other business interests in the area, own property and still have loose ends to wrap up.

“They plan to retire in Italy within the next year,” she said. “I think what they’ve established here is so excellent that our goal isn’t really to change things, it’s to scale them. I think we can bring this to more people, to make it bigger and show just a bigger audience what is already working so well here.”

The new owners noted that Good Mansion Wines is literally a destination location in Wheeling that simply should not be lost and must be maintained.

“Taking over as owners is very special and important to us, but so much credit should be given to Dominick and Olivier for just creating a space so well done, that makes it easy to kind of step into it,” Panas said. “They really built something special here. It’s not something that we could have built on our own. We just feel very grateful to be the next stewards of it.”

Depending on the season, around 10-12 staff members at Good Mansion Wines help keep the operation going strong.

“We’re really grateful that everybody has agreed to stay on,” Sweeny said, noting that they have been working alongside the veteran staff for a year.

“Right now our main priority is keeping things as consistent as possible,” Panas said. “We’re going to be bringing back small things as we’re able to. One of those things is going to be the wine tasting – we’re doing that next week on Friday.”

The duo plans to introduce some open-house educational opportunities for customers to learn about wines and imported goods. Good Mansion Wines specializes in a variety of fine, hard-to-obtain wines, along with an array of family produced and award-winning cheeses, meats and other specialty food items from Italy and the European Union – not the typical “imported” goods found in a separate aisle at a grocery store in the U.S.

East Wheeling is a growing area of the city, and Good Mansion Wines was one of the first ventures to really take root and make an investment in an old neighborhood that decades ago seemed like a long way from seeing revitalization.

“I can’t imagine how hard it would have been to launch this thing 20 years ago,” Sweeny said. “For me, this is really an incredible opportunity to invest in East Wheeling in another way, in a different way, and continue to see the revitalization of our downtown neighborhoods.

“It’s very important to me to also be invested and have skin in the game in the revitalization of the city.”

Both Panas and Sweeny said they still plan to do some professional consulting outside of the shop. Sweeny still works in historic preservation and teaches at Belmont College. But both women intend to dedicate a full-time focus on pouring their heart and soul into Good Mansion Wines.

“I think the core values here have always been rooted in discovery,” Panas said. “We invite everyone to come in, talk to us, ask questions and try something new. All of the staff members will be happy to guide them through the process.”

For more information on Good Mansion Wines, visit online at goodmansionwines.com or check out the shop’s official pages on social media.