Bo Salling

Owner of Crush Wine Bar and 12-year Amarillo resident

It was friend of Bo’s who predicted, “You’re gonna move to Amarillo, you’re gonna buy a truck, then you’re gonna meet a girl and be married in the first two years.”

Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened.

“I planned on moving to Amarillo for two years tops, but it’s been 12 years now,” laughs Bo Salling, owner of Crush Wine Bar on Polk Street. “One of the first things I did was buy a truck and then I met Jessica, so he totally called it.”

After graduating high school in San Antonio, Bo moved to Lubbock to attend Texas Tech, where he studied economics and worked at Caprock Winery as a tour guide. There Bo learned about the vineyards, the horticultural side of a winery, and eventually went on to learn about marketing and selling wine. The on-the-job training paid off and Bo was hired by Glazer’s, a wine distributor based in Dallas.

“I applied with them in hopes of moving to Austin because I had a budding music career in college, but instead they had a job for me in Amarillo, so I moved here in 1997 and worked as a sales rep for all of West Texas. I was the fine wine guy for restaurants in town.”

Fortunately, Bo found a place for both passions – wine and music – in Amarillo. Shortly after moving here, he started playing guitar and singing in corner bars a couple of nights a week and, before long, met a group of guys and formed Bo Salling and the Brakes Are All Gone Band. They toured Texas and put out their first album, Spitshine, in 2000, while Bo maintained his position at Glazer’s. The juggling act went on for several years.

“I talked to my boss about options, about maybe moving to Austin. In the midst of deciding what to do, he offered me a promotion in Amarillo, so stayed here and did the management thing for a while,” says Bo. “I finally decided to quit in 2003, and with my wife’s support, I went forward with music full time.”

Without full management, it was hard for Bo to be both a businessman and musician at the same time. At 30-something, married with a child on the way, he decided to move on to his long-time wine shop idea.

Bo met with friends and restaurateurs Brian Mason and Brian Singleton and, together, they formulated the plan for Crush, a wine bar, high-end deli and retail shop. Polk Street presented the perfect location and the multi-layered business has thrived since opening one year ago. This summer, Bo plans on teaching wine classes for people who are interested in learning the basics.

“One of our goals here is to de-mystify wine. We want to take the snobbery out of it. It’s just grape juice,” he says. “I could talk about wine for days, from grape to glass.”

The European-style of a Crush experience has fit nicely into the Amarillo way of life. They strive to give patrons a place to relax, spread out, and enjoy their meal and wine with ease. It turns out this is the reason Bo has chosen to stay here.

“Amarillo is just an easy, laid back place to be. It’s a safe place to live and a great place to raise my family. I’m happy with where my business is, and while we’d love to open another one of these in West Texas, it’s important to make sure the wheels are turning here.”

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