Wanted: Wine Retailers in Michigan, Massachusetts, Maryland, Pennsylvania or Texas

Do we have any members who are wine retailers in the above listed states? These five states come to mind where wine retailers are not allowed to sell their wine on line, outside their state. (Of course, Pennsylvania has no retailers because the state totally controls sales.)

Since the retailers in these states are financially crippled regarding on-line sales by state law, do they bother to participate on wine boards? Is the “States” status quo regarding on-line sales acceptable? How much business are they losing to on-line retailers because of their State’s laws regarding retail sales by local merchants? Can we, Berserkers and retailers, help those individuals expand their business?

LOL have you read any of Peter Tryba’s posts? I think Marty’s does ok in Boston without being able to ship. [snort.gif]

Marty’s is clearly by any metric the best retailer on the east coast, if not further out, and recently very successfully expanded in a down economy. Envy is in poor taste.

You talkin’ to me?

I am here in TX and we can ship anywhere allowed within the USA. Funny thing is that we’re not allowed to ship IN state. According to out of date liquor laws that are still in place, that constitutes boot legging.

I think both these statements are wrong.

Brent, even if they’re doing quite well, why wouldn’t they want to enlarge their customer base?

Marc, Marty’s is a very good store (my cousin even works there!). I have shopped there for over 20 years. But there are some other very good retailers on the East Coast depending on what you are looking for.

Looks like my post went over the head of yet another reader. Droll, not troll. Sigh.

Please explain to those of us not so gifted.

Ken,

I’m sure they wouldn’t mind expanding business, but it’s for them to speak of not for us to speculate on. When I worked there, we did try partnering up with some of the 800-wine online type deals, but because they set national web prices that didn’t take into account our local purchasing/shipping costs, we found them not really beneficial.

I think Randy’s initial point, of perhaps setting up a network of stores that could have mutually beneficial relationships is certainly a valid and useful one. For instance, if a customer walks in to Randy & Carrie’s and wants something delivered to a friend in MA, which they cannot do themselves as they can’t ship wine into MA, then they could call Marty’s and work something out to get the order done that would be beneficial to both parties, rather than a straight referral that makes the customer do the work and calling Marty’s direct.

As far as Marc is concerned, I think he’s transferring his own envy to my statement. He’s the one that left that crappy wine market in NYC for the bustling wine market of…Charlotte, NC. Marc, I hope you get to go out a lot with Eric Solomon and Kelly Walker. [drinkers.gif]

And,

I would like to know what wines aren’t available to some of those retailers. We get requests for certain wines that the customer can’t find locally in states like Mass. We can pass on those requests to the nearest store that does have the wine. If the wine isn’t available in the state because of no distribution, we can pass that on to individual wineries along with any name of distributors provided by the retailer.

Funnier yet, in the middle of this post a customer came in asking for an Italian wine she can’t find anywhere. She said was from New Jersey and works in NYC, so I checked Grapes the Wine Company website, bingo. A sale for Daniel.

My initial post was 100% sarcastic and more or less aligned with the [snort.gif] of Mr. Clayton’s initial post.

That is incorrect; there are PA retailers who work outside of the PLCB, and they (at least one I know of) can ship. For example, see http://dreadnoughtwines.com/

Thanks Chaad,

Went to the website and after some searching figured out they do ship outside Penn. In looking at the list of wines I am curious if they have to purchase their wines through the PLCB or have access to a distributor with a wider selection.

I’m not sure how it works exactly, but basically I think they can buy anything that’s not in the PLCB store system, so they therefore buy from distributors and importers (e.g my company).

That’s a lot better than what I had thought. In checking on the various states and talking to Berserkers who live in them, I thought the PLCB completely controlled both the purchases and sales in Penn, eliminating citizen retailers and distributors, while dictating what would be available to the public.

I have gotten a lot of complaints from visitors from Penn that they have no access to the selection of wines they want because of the PLCB system. Need to identify and promote those retailers in Penn that can get/do have some of those wines they are looking for.

I was under the impression that in PA there is another loophole that allows an individual to have mailing list type wines shipped to you as long as they go through a PLCB store and they add a tax/duty/markup to them?

As far as the system goes, however, they position themselves as one of the largest wholesalers in the country, so they seek ‘max’ deals based on volume. Prices in PA can be competitive, but they are buying in deep on a more limited number of items, so selection is smaller compared to neighboring states such as NY & NJ that have open markets.

Brent,

I have heard the same thing and a winery owner or two that I know, have outright told their distributors that their wines will not be discount sold to Penn. Others have said Penn had no interest in their wine. Catch 22.

Wait,
Did I get insulted in there? [scratch.gif]

Just kidding! Thanks for the compliments, I’ll accept for the entire company. All of us strive daily to make Marty’s a great place to shop and work.

Randy’s describing a crazy, seemingly-unheard-of-in-the-wine-business practice: the referral.

With the “no shipping anywhere from anybody” bill coming before Congress, you would think wine shop employees who share so much time with each other on a wine BB would also want to perpetuate those relationships by “referring” customers to one another.
I can’t ship, so I do it all the time! It’s fun and rewarding to help a fellow purveyor out. There’s enough wine and plenty of customers to go around.
grouphug

(Unless we’re talking about other MA shops. Then it’s my intention to crush my enemies, drive them them before me, and hear the lamentations of their women)
[berserker.gif]

I was going to mention Dreadnought, then I saw your post Chaad.
I know Mike and will ask him how it works and invite him to post.