Two brother's took over this wine bar in a location with plenty of competition from the big liquor retailers. It soon become obvious that attempting to compete with traditional methods was a lost cause. The inbred pricing structure of the liquor industry left them uncompetitive so they decided to think outside the square. Firstly they established contact with middle of the road wineries, many of whom were also disenchanted with the established structure. They focussed on middle of the road pricing ($12-25 per bottle) and ramped up the one area that they had all over the big boys - customer service.
Then they introduced their trump card - bring your own food. They decided that the expense of setting up a full restaurant style kitchen was unattractive so they encouraged customers to bring their own food. Customers rock up with everything from fine dish casseroles to pizza boxes and settle down to enjoy the customer service, the ambient surroundings and an unbeatable selection of wines.
Turnover has doubled and the brothers see no reason why the growth will not continue.
Why have we mentioned this story? We have been repeatedly cracking on about the new order of retailing - how the GFC, and events since, have changed the face of retailing forever. Times are tough but the good thing is that change brings opportunity and we can't help but think that consumers are ripe for new and exciting ideas to tempt them. The wine bar brothers found such an idea. What have you got in your bag of tricks?