I'd love some feedback, esp. from anyone in this area who might enjoy
>such a thing. Also would love to hear from any wine store owners on
>the ups and downs of the business. I've never operated a retail store
>as the owner, but know the business. I do know wine is probably a
>tight margin and more of a labor of love than anything else.
Hi Colin,
Best of luck to you in your venture. I was ITB during the boom in Austin Texas and since you already seem from your post to have some ideas, just a few general thoughts from me,
- Wine under per bottle is your bread and butter. It is what will make you profitable. The biggest mistake I have seen people make is to get too into the high end stuff wanting to be "specialty." Even in the boom times in Austin, this was a dangerous move. I have many cases in my cellar that came at steep discount (ie, below cost) when an overzealous retailer bought too much high end wine and had cash flow troubles.
- Go to all the trade tastings you can and push your sales reps to bring you samples before you buy. See that your staff tastes as well. A personal TN goes a long way with a customer. Even those who are slaves to the WA and WS will often heed the advice of an enthusiastic wine person who has tried the wines. In a world where Costco and other major retailers are competing for wine customers, personal knowledge and service is your best weapon- and it works!
- If you plan to stock wines over 0, get yourself a cellar unit and keep them at 55 degrees in the store. This is a big plus with customers. The unit will cost you some money (keep your eyes open for used ones by word of mouth or at used restaurant supply warehouses), but it will help you sell good wines. Collectors know their stuff. There is a good reason why high end wine at prices
- Have someone dust the bottles and keep things very clean. In just a matter of weeks, your fresh stock can take on the appearance of old news. Customers run from dusty bottles- they must either be something noone likes or something that has been on a warm shelf too long. Keep things looking new and nice. And, while keeping things in some degree of order and place, move stuff around a bit too.
- When you or your staff taste a wine, have someone write their TN and score (if they use scoring) and put it on the shelf. This makes it easy for people to see your thoughts. And the good news is that they can often ask the author directly about their review. I did this quite often in our store and it worked wonders. Even slow sellers for our market (ie Riesling) did far better if we put out our own tasting notes. Customers respond to that. Tells them that you care enough to know your goods, and it helps them choose the wine best suited for them.
- Take care of your reps and they will take care of you. Don't let them dump crap on you, but when they have a surplus they need to move of something you think you can sell, take a chance once in a while and stock up- maybe offering a special to customers. You will be rewarded for this in time with more offers of good deals on good wine, and also with better access to highly allocated wines.
- Host wine tastings in the store if your laws allow it. Makes for a good time, and customers with a couple of sips of wine in them make far more eager consumers :)
- When doling out the highly allocated wines, keep detailed records of who got what in a given year. Make sure that person gets the same shot next year if you get that allocation again. A few top customers who are loyal to you can ensure fast sales of your top wines (cash flow- which is how this business works), plus good word of mouth. Take care of them and they will take care of you. At our store, we only had a few really high rollers- but their ,000-50,000 each a year in business on high end bottles was an integral part of our success.
- Keep books on hand. Stock the WS magazine. Sell the Parker book, Johnson's Wine Atlas and a variety of other current titles. Maybe have a store copy of each for customers to use in choosing wines, and offer copies for sale as well. Same with good wine tasting glasses- Schott makes incredibly good ones that retail for about each. I use THEM now instead of Riedel! All of this further sets you up as a personal service business that is there to educate and help customers. You will not beat the big chains on price, so beat them on customer service where you have the advantage.
Hope this helps and good luck to you!
Tom.
PS- As a further extension of point #1 above, beer and booze will be even bigger sellers than any wine :) I think you are wise to keep those around. The stores I have seen flounder as startups- most of them failed to handle the "cheap stuff" and many felt beer was "beneath them." Big mistake! :)