I’m out of the day to day retail lately (after 10 years of wine/spirits retail/broad market experience), but I’ve helped a couple of new bottle shops in the past 6 months strategize on prepping their business for launch.
Store #1 is in a small booming town of 3,000 (its not 3000 anymore, let’s just say) and more in the greater radius. There are already 2 or 3 other liquors stores 5 minutes alway, all with an underwhelming wine set. The new owner is fresh to wine & spirits retail, swimming in cash from their active career in a different space. They bought the land and turned the dirt, designed the building and doors are about to open for biz in a week or two. When we talked it was very clear he was going for higher end, small producer wine selection unlike the nearby competition. The store build out is coming along very nice and they hired a wine pro/Somm with 20 years of experience in wine and hospitality to manage the store and run their wine wheelhouse in building first inventory orders. Great hire and this new shop has a lot of potential. Website, social media, tastings, events, wine club, mail/announcements/lottery list etc all ready for launch. While a lot of shops see dog days of summer and slow season, this new shop will be diving right into the local busy season (recreation, outdoors, events, vacationers, great weather compared to a long winter etc)
Store #2 sought to fill a gap in a metro suburb. Many months ago they secured a lease in a new retail strip pad in a new neighborhood (and very walkable, at that) where apartment communities have come online or are in the pipeline across the street and down the street several blocks. And several traditional single family home neighborhoods behind the retail pad. As store build out began late last year they learned a huge regional big box liquor store will be opening early 2026, .5 mile away on the nearby highway frontage/access road, a 3 minute drive away. “Coming soon sign” and recent permits secure at that point, no dirt turned yet.
With a sense of dread owner said they’re locked in and more than knee deep because of the lease contract. If they backed out of the space and broke the lease they would owe the balance of lease terms and would be out $70k. So they stuck with it, brought a manager from their first store on the other side of the metro and they opened the new shop in March to a very warm welcome, soft open, grand opening, ribbon cutting with press coverage, local Chamber of Commerce, town mayor, food spread, product samples and the whole works. I hope his wine selection will come along eventually, I would have done things differently.
Everything else has been done right, a rockin’ liquor selection, website, delivery/pick-up, active socials/reels/event promotion/product highlights, allocation list lottery, tastings and so forth. Their goal is to develop their customer base and have them loyal and retained, established in the neighborhood before the big box neighbor opens early 2026.
Other thoughts, I think what works for wine retailers is reading the local area, competition, customer demographics, being able to adjust and optimize your buying habits/levels and being a shop that becomes a destination that offers an exciting inventory, run by savvy buyers and staff and better customer experience than the grocer or big box retailer.