Meet Victoria Ngo Border | Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Victoria Ngo Border and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Victoria, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Vinya: vino + vinyasa is the first ever yoga studio and wine bar with a full kitchen and retail boutique in one community space. The concept for Vinya was born in 2016 after always needing to decide where to go and then having to drive to the nearest bar if we wanted to hang out with our friends after a yoga class. There was clear demand for it here in San Diego, with numerous events combining the two, like yoga classes at wineries and breweries and yoga studios hosting wine social hours. But we set out to create the first permanent space where one could enjoy both on a daily basis. We wanted to create a community space where people could come together, maybe get their yoga on and be able to hang out after classes with good food and drinks, or just come for the food and drinks. We are simply a couple with a dream, all in and risking everything to make Vinya a reality and a success.

What should our readers know about your business?
We have transformed a 6,000 square foot space that used to be Beverly’s, a beloved neighborhood fabric store, into one of the most unique spaces that’s ever existed. We built out a full kitchen, a bar, a studio, and a retail boutique out of nothing from the ground up. Our yoga studio offers a robust schedule with a variety of class types, accessible to all levels in an unheated environment, and a roster of amazing instructors. The kitchen at Vinya features all scratch-made dishes with fresh ingredients and unique flavors, and our exploratory wine list focuses on small producers and family-owned wineries from regions all around the world. We also offer draft beer from hyper-local breweries in our direct area, hard sparkling teas, kombucha options, loose leaf teas, and nitro coffee. Vinya features gorgeous murals by Gloria Muriel, and art continues into our community boutique, supporting all local artists and artisans, where you can find unique pieces and fun gifts for yourself or your loved ones.

How did you get to where you are today?
It took us 6.5 long years to get Vinya up and running. We call 2016 the year of everything, when my husband and I created the concept for Vinya, and we both completed a wine certification course and yoga teacher training, while getting married to boot. I also like to say I left the corporate world that year and started writing our business plan while working at a local wine bar and teaching yoga on the side.

We were faced with countless obstacles to get to where we are today. Financing was especially challenging since we had everything going against us, being first time, young entrepreneurs trying to open two of the worst business types known for success. City permitting also took forever, and we kept experiencing delay after delay, although it ended up being a blessing in disguise that we weren’t able to open before the pandemic hit. After the city started opening back up, we had to go through the financing process all over again due to stricter requirements, and once we got the green light, construction then took 15 months.

We are thrilled to now finally be open after all this time, to be able to hold space for people to come together from all over the city. This is what kept us going all this time. We knew we wanted to keep the location of Vinya super local in our neighborhood of Clairemont Mesa, where there’s a large residential community yet a lack of a yoga studio nearby or a wine bar or any place really “cool” for that matter, where you can go out and enjoy good food and drinks. With that said, we are also very central within San Diego and easily accessible right off a major freeway with plentiful parking. Words and photos don’t do Vinya justice…please come on in and experience it for yourself!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Other than taking a yoga class and staying for food and drinks at Vinya, we would probably get bottomless brunch at Parc Bistro and walk over to Balboa Park to see everything there along El Prado all the way to the Spanish Village. Another day we might go to Liberty Station and walk around there…get food at the market and maybe a beer at Stone. Maybe we’d go down to Eppig and get a beer there…plenty of food options around there as well. Maybe catch the sunset at Sunset Cliffs. Another day we’d do Little Italy…take a sandwich from Mona Lisa to Vino Carta and get a bottle of wine there…maybe get beers at Ballast Point, Bottlecraft, and Mikkeller…maybe happy hour at Ironside? Another day we might walk the boardwalk from Pacific Beach down to Mission Beach…maybe get some food and drink along the way. Maybe this is followed by a bottle of wine/picnic with sunset city views at Kate Sessions. We have yet to go, but our sommelier Gerson always recommends a bottle of wine plus dinner at Juan Jasper. And maybe a splurge dinner at a fancier restaurant one night…lots of good options around the city for that. And of course tacos at some point!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We would like to dedicate this shoutout to our family and friends who have supported us over all these years, in addition to our Vinya fam, the Clairemont community, and the amazing people who show up here every day. We love you!

Website: https://www.vinyasd.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vinyasd

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vinyasandiego

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/vinya-vino-vinyasa-san-diego-4

Image Credits
Chris Watson