Retail is dead

I blame high corkage fees.

I think it’s either TCA or lack of cult wines on the shelves.

RIP.

Retail is dead at the store where you shop.

It was killed by drones firing 50mm rounds.

Is there anything alive at all … ???

Maybe they need more elitist wines on their shelves.

Retail is so 2008

Only at retail. I can get retail for you wholesale

The wine mgr at my favorite LWS complains about two things:

1. He’ll order a case of wine or two upon release to see how it sells, then goes back to buy more and learns that one of the mega stores ( read Total Wine) has bought the remaining entire state allocation and it selling the wine retail for less than he bought it wholesale. If you’re not in a TS area you’re screwed.

2. Wineries such as Caymus, via Southern, makes the store buy a bunch of wines they don’t want and can’t sell in order to get the cab. LWS ends up dropping those wines altogether. People come into the store wanting that wine, but not available in a 100 mile radius. Individuals can go on line and buy one bottle of whatever they want with out buying the junk that the retailers must.

Retail can be a tough life!

I’m ITB and me and my employees make much of their living selling to retailers that are not chains. A few observations:

to Gordon Fitz: Pardon my ignorance, but can you please define “TS area”?

Many states have laws about tie-ins, quantities, etc. Total has made extensive use of those laws, breaking open exclusivities and challenging allocations. Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander? It would require independents to work together, but some states have associations that could help with this.

In general, I find:
Classic fine wine shops are surviving, but some are having a tough time.
Mid-level liquor stores with a serious interest in wine are comatose or dying… their fine wine business killed by the internet and every day wine business killed by the chains.
There are many, many, many new quirky shops opening, run by people who are passionate and devoted to finding fine stuff, often at reasonable prices. If passion doesn’t
a) outrun business sense, and
b) is dedicated to wines that can have broad popular appeal
then the shops may stay open.

In other words, if you are enamored of natural and orange wines, and are not in Brooklyn, fahgeddaboudit.
And as somebody on this board has noted, Jura is overrated. Give me Jurancon any day!

Dan Kravitz, itb for the long haul

The last time I went into my favorite little LSW, no, last two times, the Gen Y’ers working in the shop acted so rudely that I won’t go back. One had so many piercings through her nose and septum that I lost count and the other gave “cold” a whole new meaning. Both kept pointing me to the other to cash out for no apparent reason, both having empty registers. I have no need to buy more wine anyway. I used to buy because I liked the owner and staff. Now the owner runs her brew-pub a mile away and she lost the good staff and hired the two described above.

Mitch,

Did you tell her?

Retail wine stores need a niche. The inability to sell/ship wine to Americans in other states is one the factors affecting small retail. Mega stores have an impact on small retailers and common sense is killing other retailers. When “megawinestore” and “online major savers” (take your pick) claim to have the lowest prices many people flock to them. I think the most expensive wine store in Napa is Bevmo. Safeway has discounts on 6 bottles that beats Bevmo by 10% and their price on “real” wine is 25% higher than ours.

Nobody goes into retail wine stores any more, they’re too crowded.

I see more and more “collector” wines that will never be drunken due to their outrageous prices… To me the main question is: will these wines come back to the market at some point? If yes, there will be a huge bubble…

If you want to live long in this business… you will probably need to sell mainly wines that are drunken and not collected… just my 2 cent…

One of my local retailers does a nice job of bringing new premium wines consistently. If I’m interested in something particular I ask him if he can get it. I’ve done this so many times we finally agreed it was faster for him to give me one of his monthly distributor catalogs for me to check at my convenience. From those catalogs I give him a specific wines I’m interested in, that I know are available in my state, and he checks availability and cost…it happens faster than it seems. Once I place an order it’s only a few days and he typically brings more in than I order so that he can put them on the shelf for others to buy and try. This is probably 30-40% of what I buy which gets supplemented from winery direct and out of state retailer purchases. I certainly hope the retail business doesn’t disappear.

Dan;

Excuse my misspelling. Should have been TW not TS! Total Wines here only exist in the larger cities. If one lives in a midsized community away from the larger metropolitan, then no TW.