Times are tough. We're all struggling to make it, and to save a few dollars here and there. You may be spending less on wine, or buying less wine altogether. You may be buying more wine in grocery stores and box stores. (photo by iwona_kellie)Don't forget your local wine store during these tough times.
It can be easy to do. You decide to shop the sale at BevMo. Just this once.
But now more than ever we need to support the independent retailers--both locally and online--who have brought us so much great wine and given us so much good advice over the past months. These small business owners are hurting now, too, and your purchase today can help to make sure that they're still there to shop from when the markets rebound and you're looking for a great bottle of wine from the Loire. Just try finding that at the supermarket.
Jancis Robinson's recent article reminded me how much I depend on independent retailers--like Chronicle Wine Cellar, domaine547, Mission Wines, and the Walla Walla Wine Woman--to share their knowledge and expertise with me and to guide me towards the wine that I want to drink.
Times are tough. But living without independent wine retailers will be even tougher. This weekend, buy a bottle of wine from someone who has given you great service in the past, and help ensure that they're still there in the future. Otherwise, we're looking at a bleak picture filled with chain wines and chain stores.
Do what you can to fight for your wine independence. Support your local independent retailers--TODAY.
4 comments:
And WineLibrary is the East Coast's largest wine retailer! I wish they were a chain...
Thanks for posting this! I'm a huge believer in supporting the independent wine retailers. I very, very rarely order online - it has to be super, super cheap for me to do it. Most of the time, I can have one of "my" stores order whatever I want & they'll often match the price.
Thank you Dr. Debs. You are pretty terrific!
It seems as if everyone is getting into the wine biz from Amazon to the Wall Street Journal. And of course because of volume, they will be offer lower prices.
However, no matter how hard they try and what kind of language they try to convince the potential customers on their websites, they cannot truly offer what Domaine547, myself and other independent wine retailers can offer:
Attention to detail when it comes to customer service. Chances are pretty great that when a customer deals with a small independent wine shop they are going to deal directly with the owner. The chain stores cannot make that claim. You are going to deal with a call center or a minimum wage paid "sales associate."
Another claim that a big chain store cannot make: many of the wines I carry, I have built a relationship directly with the winemaker - - not the wholesale middle man in a warehouse. I can share the winemaker's story to my customers. Now some people may not care and strictly looking at price, but if you are a really passionate about wine - what would you prefer to tell your guests at dinner party about the wine they are drinking?
That you bought it at Amazon on sale or you purchased it from the owner of a boutique wine store who works directly with the winemaker?
Great advice in another fine blog post! I'll hit up my smallest independent wine store this weekend!
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