Tim Harty, The Business Times

Willy Tuz thinks it was June last year when he moved his store, Colorado Fruit Designs, out of Grand Junction’s Mesa Mall.

His store needs a little space, as in not much at all. As in not nearly as much as he was occupying, and paying for, in the mall.

The local chef, who has appeared several times on Food Network shows, still had his food trailer, and a lot of his work requires being mobile, so he was able to take his time finding a new place for Colorado Fruit Designs to call home.

His patience paid off with a pairing that’s a lot like chocolate and wine. Actually, that’s exactly what it is. He uses chocolate on his fruit trays, and Carlson Vineyards makes and sells wine.

It seemed like they belong together, and now they are. Tuz began operating his store in a small space inside Carlson Vineyards Downtown Tasting Room, 545 Main St. in Grand Junction, on March 1.

“Combining our stuff, our fresh fruit gifts, which is the chocolate fruit, with what Carlson Vineyards has, it’s like chocolate and wine. It’s like the best combination,” said Tuz, who started his business in 2019 with a focus on fruit carving, primarily watermelons.

Carlson Vineyards’ owner Garrett Portra agrees it makes perfect sense, something they could have planned during one of their meetings at events in years prior. But the way it came to be was more coincidental than logical.

Portra said Carlson Vineyards was interested in adding a renter in its downtown location, but he didn’t advertise it. Instead, “I kind of put word of mouth out that I was looking,” he said.

Then, one day Tuz walks into the store and asks about leasing space there.

“I don’t think he ever heard about it,” Portra said. “He just kind of came in one day and asked if I’d be interested” in leasing space to him.

It turned out Portra was.

“It just felt like it was going to be a good fit,” he said. “I feel like it was gonna be a good fit for both of us, because we’re doing a rebranding of our downtown space. We’re currently working on it, and it just fit with kind of the direction that I wanted to go with that space.

“But it was really more him kind of getting ahold of us and asking. It was pretty serendipitous that it just like worked out that way.”

The space is handy, too, because it gives Tuz a place for people to find him, which they may need to do more often. In addition to the fruit trays, he now is the area’s point person for Fruit Bouquets, which is owned by 1-800-Flowers, and Shari’s Berries.

Online orders for either come to Tuz, and he has all of the supplies he needs from both companies to prepare the fruit bouquet or the berries for customers to pick up at the store. Or, he can deliver.

The location also allows people to seek out the “celebrity” chef. His appearances on The Food Network yielded three runner-up finishes – Tuz said he almost cried the last time it happened – and he is surprised by the number of people who remember him from those shows: Outrageous Pumpkins All-Stars 2024; Halloween Wars Season 12; and Outrageous Pumpkins Season 1.

Tuz said strangers will come up to him and say, “Oh my God! We watched you on TV.”

And that’s OK if they do it in the store. Maybe they’ll buy a gift basket or a fruit tray while they’re there.

Or maybe they’ll buy a bottle or two of Carlson Vineyards wine.

It only makes sense, as Portra said, “I think people that care about quality fruit and craft-made stuff, care about quality wine and craft-made wine.”

To contact Colorado Fruit Designs, call 970-628-4775 or go online to www.coloradofruitdesigns.com.

To contact Carlson Vineyards, call 970-424-5827 or go online to www.carlsonvineyards.com.

Or go to the store at 545 Main St. in downtown Grand Junction.