Dino & Gino Liquors

BEST of the BEST… they really go out of their way for their customers. Added a food truck park, picnic tables, playground for the kids. Family atmosphere. This is the best liquor store in Helotes and the surrounding area, by far!

Great hangout place with or without kids. They bring in a nice variety of food trucks weekly. Great food, drinks, and ambiance, especially when there is live music, which they do often!

Taking a Sunday drive on a Saturday, my partner in crime and I knew we were gonna pass up Picosos on our way back into town.
He quickly turned to me and asked, «Wanna stop and look at some nuts???»
«Uhm… yours? No, that’s okay. I’m good.»
«NO. Picoso’s nuts!»
«I don’t wanna see anyone’s stinkin’ nuts.»
I felt him staring at me as we continued to drive down Hwy 16 (Bandera Rd). I swear I think he was drilling imaginary holes in to my head for being so damn facetious.
«FINE. Let’s go look at nuts! We’ll be nut freaks, I tell ya!»
But wouldn’t you know it? We pulled in and Picosos was closed! And when reality hit, he said in a sad, pitiful tone, «Awww… no nuts… but there IS a LIQUOR STORE NEXT DOOR!» Sheeyit…
As soon as we walked in, we noticed the store was clean, compact, and brightly lit. Now, mind you, I say compact, but they had a lot of choices available: local vodkas, a good selection of tequilas, whiskeys, cognac, and some local beers. And guess what my partner in crime saw? You said it. Picosos brand peanuts displayed on about three shelves. We took our time, sifted through everything (liquor included) and when we got halfway through the store, the employee at the register yelled out, «Are ya’ll looking for anything in particular?» «No, just lookin’.» we replied. «Alright, no problem. If there’s something that you need or want, let me know and I’ll see what I can do. And if ya’ll need anything from next door and know what you want and I don’t have it in here, just say it and I’ll unlock the store and get it for you!»
Brilliant!
We loved his idea. Too bad we didn’t know what the hell we really wanted from Picosos so we just went with the few products already available at Dino & Gino. After about 30 – 45 minutes of browsing we finally made our way up to the register with our final decisions:
1. A pack of Picosos’ samurai mix (basically a mix Japanese style peanuts: seaweed, wasabi, plain, chile, and sesame flavors thrown in)
2. A can of salted Picosos peanuts
When the cashier looked at what we had, he was shocked. «ALL this time ya’ll spent looking at everything and THIS is all you get??? I was thinkin ya’ll were gonna buy the whole store but you two come up with this? And you didn’t even get the SPICY PEANUTS! Seriously???» LOL! He had us crackin’ up because we didn’t realize how much time we actually spent looking compared to what we were leaving with. He definitely did NOT guilt us in to buying anything else though. It was all in good fun. But my partner in crime said, «Okay, we’ll buy the small pack of spicy peanuts.» And the response was, «You know what? I’m just gonna GIVE THEM TO YOU.» Ha ha
The three of us spoke for a few more minutes and he invited us to join old town Helotes for a local market they hold on the first Saturday (?) of the month. And as we were leaving, I asked his name in order to introduce ourselves and he said, «I’m Dino!»
Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Dino! Thank you for being so welcoming and unbelievably sweet. Can’t wait to run in to you again. :)