The Future of Wine Stores: Experience or Transactions

In this episode we discuss if the wine industry is entering a period of transformation or leaning towards big chain stores. While overall wine sales have softened and consumer habits are changing, boutique wine stores may actually be better positioned than ever to thrive. The future of wine retail isn't about competing with big-box stores on price, it's about creating community, education, and memorable experiences. Cheers!

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https://www.instagram.com/thechosenvine/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

All right. Welcome to our sixth episode of Som and Summer. I'm Floyd. And I'm Aaron. And we're back. And I don't know how you're doing, Aaron, but I'm doing pretty well. We're still stuck inside the house. And I know last time we had talked about what we were drinking and what we were, you know, watching on TV, if there was any movies, uh, you know, episodes of any TV shows or video games we were playing and what we were drinking at the same time. Uh, so we I know we discussed that in detail, and we kind of left it off with uh our version of uh Lethal Weapon and described who was Murton, who was Riggs. And now we're here and we're just you know pouring ourselves something really delicious to drink as we just talk about some new things that are going on in the world of uh basically wine, beer, and spirits, everything. So um, I don't know what you're drinking, uh, but I'll let you know. I just poured myself a glass of Angels Envy bourbon. So I have it right here. I have just the bourbon. The rise is the rise is a special occasion kind of thing. You have to have that's like something very special when you bring that out. But right now, if you could hear the the ice, yep, that's that's what it is. So that's what I'm drinking. What are you drinking?

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Uh you won't be able to actually figure it out, so take a wild guess.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Okay, let me put my hat on, my Aaron hat on. Uh let's see. Is it going to be Blanton's? No. That's a guess.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Blantons is just like water for me, actually. Oh, I got blant. I got blantons on Blantons on the side as like a little uh you know uh palate cleanser. Dude, you're getting like cocky when it comes to this stuff, huh?

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Because I'm finding them by the uh by the truckloads. You ever seen that episode of uh Family uh Family Guy when he they uh did the Star Wars one where it's like don't get don't get penis-y? Instead of you can't say that, you can't say that for it.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

No, I'm actually having rum from Costco, the Costco brand rum. Kirkman's drink ice wear. I swear. How and why are you drinking rum? Because it's thematic of the episode, where we're going, what we need to make sacrifices on. And we're gonna talk about toilet paper, we're gonna talk about how uh it's hard to get these essential things from stores, and I have just a little recollection of what it's like to go to a Costco or go buy a Walmart these days. And I I kind of thought this was the most appropriate time to say if you don't want to crack open the good stuff, but you got the emergency liquor, you know, like I'm the stuff that you just kind of have as your everyday you know um reserves, so to speak. Kirkland Signature is really not a bad brand. We've talked about how uh they source from the same kinds of big companies like Grey Goose for vodka or uh Jim Beam for whiskey. I mean, they're pretty on top of their own game and they're really cheap.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

I thought you were gonna say you're turning into like a pirate, like you know, pirates of the Caribbean kind of thing where you know you just drinking drinking rum and that's it.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

No, I I can't drink rum all day. It's just it's not exactly easy to do unless you have something like coke to dilute it. But yeah, I aged rum, especially is kind of becoming a cool thing. I think it's gonna be the new uh tequila or new bourbon at some point, so why not try a little bit?

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Really? You're you're you're really feeling that. You're really saying that you feel rum is gonna be big. It's gonna be the new tequila, the next tequila.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

I think as long as you can always tell somebody that's hard to get, or that it's specialty, or that it takes 10 plus years to age something, if you make something sound special, people will find a reason to have it as long as it's delicious.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

All right. So you're you're you're banking on basically the aging of said rum that you're drinking. That's what's gonna bring people in. That's what's gonna make people start trying these aged rums, not like your Captain Morgan types, but more of like your specialty rum.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Yeah, and I can't really, I'm not really well versed in rum to talk about or not, but uh, you know, I I kind of think of it like when you have tequila, it's almost like a statement that you're making. Whereas rum, I kind of think about being in Barbados or Jamaica or St. Thomas, you know, it's kind of its own little breed, if you think about it. And I think that especially when we talk about wine being aged in bourbon casks or bourbon being aged in sherry casks, you know, you a lot of this stuff is kind of synergy to a certain point. So I do think rum is not gonna ever be as big as something like wine or bourbon or probably even tequila, but maybe bourbon, I'm sorry, maybe rum is like the new Mescal.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

All right.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

How many people do you know that really say I collect Mescal?

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Uh I think now you hear a lot more people talking about it. Like I've always said, and we've yeah now, like I feel like I've had a discussion with people where it just brought me back to I was a young kid, and Mezcal was always the one that had the worm at the bottom of the bottle. You were trying to drink it all the way to the bottom to see who's gonna take the worm and do a shot of it. Mezcal is another one that's climbing and becoming more and more popular, and there's so many different versions of it. I've tried numerous brands at the store, and I've always been interested in like you know, how they just come up with such different flavor profiles of these mezcals because some can be a little bit, you know, standoffish in a sense, where it's it's a little too strong, there's too much of that burn, I always say, when it comes to spirits, but there's some really easy drinking, smooth mezcals out there that I think that's like that. You're right. I think like to keep like that, like tequila and mezcal has kind of they're still climbing. And I think rum, if you're looking at aged rum, I think it's popular too. I host like I I remember when I did like a um a tasting and a gentleman had like this this aged rum. I forgot how many years. I don't know if it was like 12, 15, or 18. It was something huge. It was like a really aged rum. And I've never heard of it. And I in my in my head, this is before this is when I first had that my store for the first year. And I remember saying, I never even knew they had aged rum. I always thought it was you know, Captain Morgan's or some you know cheap, you know, Caribbean rum that you had. It was either from the Caribbean or from Puerto Rico. And I was just shocked to see this, you know, this guy, he's a collector, like, oh, I have this rum that's been aged this long. I'm just amazed what they're doing with spirits now. And and you're right, like rum might get there. I don't know if the sugar keeps it held back a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

It won't I don't think enough people are gonna kind of jump on that bandwagon and say, oh man, forget about forget about whiskey, forget about vodka, forget about all these staple liquors. I'm drinking rum now. I I think that you're just gonna sort of see a little bit of like a kind of like a popularity contest with it. You know, I I think that there's always gonna be people who say, I want to do a shot of vodka, I want to do a shot of Jack, I want to do, hey, let me try a shot of rum. You know, I I think there's a I think there's gonna be probably an emergence because you do see trends when it comes to wine liquors, for sure. You do see trends, and then you do see staples. And I'm kind of experimenting a little bit, seeing what this tastes like on its own without any kind of mixers.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

That's interesting. So are you gonna start like hunting for rare rums? Is that like the new Aaron mission, or are we sticking to still finding those rare?

SPEAKER_01 8:10

It's not fun enough now. You know, there's no real allocation or scarcity of this stuff. I think that what's sometimes cool is when a boutique says, We have something, you know, kind of like us with wine, we have something that you couldn't find anywhere. We have something that's really, really special. Actually, um I think that when I went to Bordeaux, I think it was around this time, exactly a year ago. Yeah, uh when I was in Paris before we took the train to Bordeaux, there was a store. I swear to you, it was all rum. It was two-level liquors boutique, all rum. There was nothing else there, yeah, just special.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Was it rum rum? Is it rum from French? Is it like French rum? Is it like a mix of other everywhere? Gotcha. Everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

And maybe the Europe, maybe Europeans kind of like look at it or approach it differently than we do.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

That's interesting. Yeah, it's it's truly interesting because I remember before you know COVID-19 coronavirus came out. Um, I was at my store and I remember one of my vendors coming in and they poured me French whiskey. I was like, I was like, wow, the French are now getting into whiskies. You know, it's Armagnacs and it's um, you know, cognacs usually like that after dinner drink that you have, but you know, transitioning to like the popularity of like the whiskeys and the bourbons, it's amazing like how now everybody wants to put their hand in the game and try to get involved in such a booming business. That I tried these French whiskies and I I was blown away like how tasty, how smooth they are. But it's just everybody is putting their hands in that that that cookie jar and just trying to make something great. It it's just like kind of rum. That's why I asked you the question. I'm like, I'm amazed, like everybody's making rum. Like it's probably easy to make because it's just sugar cane, you know, products and you're fermenting and you're doing something like that. Like I said, with it.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

I don't know enough about it to say, you know, this is what Barbados. I actually went to a total wine in the last few months, and when I went to the rum section, uh some really knowledgeable associate at the store was talking about how there's differences between Jamaica, Barbados, you know, St. Martin, um, maybe other areas where they make rum. But it's it's kind of a cool concept to think about that you know, you know the that it can differ so much by going from place to place. And I I just like I said, I don't know enough about it, but it's kind of interesting to me because who do you really know that drinks rum? But you hear enough about it to say it's a popular drink that people kind of dabble in from time to time. I I think as long as you have something that has been around forever, there's gonna be peaks and valleys of popularity with it. Oh, interesting. All right. Like Sauvignon Blanc, which is which is really kind of what's driving me crazy these days.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

And just to let everybody know out there, we are doing this remotely. So if you do hear some little robot blurps, a little, you know, yeah, blurbs, you know, you'll hear that it's because we're doing it remotely. We're not usually doing it in front of each other where you know it comes out a little bit smoother and nicer. So I just want to let everybody know that little disclaimer. Can't see this guy's beautiful mug. But uh, you know, it's it's it's during this time, I think that it kind of lends itself to what people are doing where you know they are hunting for stuff, they are trying to find stuff. And I know that you know, if you're involved with all the news that's out there, like all these governors are trying to open up their states now. So a lot of people are, you know, maybe we're either going back to normalcy or we're not going back to normalcy. That's the thing I think that is so interesting about what's gonna happen for the future of like the liquor store industry, the liquor store business, in a sense. Like, you know, like I I don't know if everybody knows this, but you know, a little information is that because COVID-19, you know, I had to close my stores because I have a very small store, it's 900 square feet. So you really can't practice social distancing. And Aaron knows that. Like it's impossible. It's impossible. And you will have customers walking in, walking out. You have to kind of help them. It's very, it's not like a big chain store where you have so much square footage where you can walk around, you can do the six feet, you can walk in a straight line around, you know, around the aisles.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

It's sort of like the size of somebody's wine cellar at home or somebody's study room in their mansion. Like that's this that's basically what the store is.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

Exactly. And it's just not a warehouse. It's not a warehouse. So basically, you know, I had to close and say, you know what, I'm gonna see what's gonna happen next with all of this because I can't practice social distancing. Um, but when that was happening, we did still offer to you know, the community of Millburn, you know, and other neighboring communities, delivery service, you know, curb, uh, we we I was thinking about curbside, but it doesn't really work, doesn't lend itself to the store. It's tricky. It's tricky because people might want to come in the store. And this, and remember, we're talking about a time when I made this decision that there wasn't a mandate to wear masks everywhere. You know, this is when everybody was still not wearing masks and walk around. So with curbside, it's kind of difficult where you might get that one customer that wants to come in the store, they want to mic take a look at everything before they buy anything. But you know, we just started offering like just delivery service, and Aaron's been great to kind of just make sure that anybody that placed an order had to deliver to their home. And you know, during this process, you know, people have called, you know, the store or they've emailed me and it goes directly to Aaron. And Aaron puts together this great package, it's kind of like a care package, an unwind boutique care package of wine and spirits if you need it, and also beer. But it's been a great service, you know, just to kind of get some product moving, keep our store open a little bit, making some money to show that you're alive, show that you're alive, paying some bills, just just you know, let people know that you're still there to help. Um, and some people, as you know, Aaron, like they don't want to leave the house. Not everybody is as you know, gung-ho about putting on a mask and leaving their house. Some people want to just stay in, order everything. They hunker down, they want to order everything. So Aaron's been doing a great service. My store has been doing uh, you know, awesome service of just making sure we deliver it to your house, to your apartment, contact list, you you know, give your credit card, you pay, and Aaron delivers it to you. So, you know, we had a discussion not too long ago of where is this business going? Like, is it going more towards because we're not gonna be back to normal anytime soon? It's gonna take a little bit of time. So, you know, what is the new normal for liquor stores or wine stores or any boutique wine store? What you know, what is gonna be the new normal? And Aaron, you know, we had a discussion. Aaron had some great ideas and what he was thinking. So, you know, I think this is a perfect time to kind of revisit that discussion. So, what were you, if you remember, what were you telling me about your your your your idea of the future of liquor stores?

SPEAKER_01 15:49

I'm just trying to kind of think about this because of course if you're somebody who says, I want to buy let's say a case of Jack Daniels, that kind of excludes where I'm seeing a boutique wine store going. But I think that a lot of the people who kind of support our local business, that's just what they enjoy doing. They have their established collections, they have their established wines, uh liquors, and beers that they can buy at wholesale prices. You know, like a lot of the people that we deal with customer-based wise, they're affluent. You know, they they they sort of know what they're looking for, but I think where our market is, is it's kind of the whole I want to try a bunch of different types of wines. And I can either come back to you and get a case of something I like, or I can try something that you give me, and if I like it, I'll find a better price for it. So I really do think that a lot of the calls I'm getting, you know, some of the calls are out of desperation saying, I need to get booze today. Will you deliver it to my porch? Please, please, please. But a lot of the other calls are interesting because they say to me, Can you look around the store? Give me your best expertise. I don't even want to really hear what you think of each bottle that you're looking at, but put together a case for me. That way, over the next two to three weeks, I can go through these wines and see what I really like and see how much I trust you as the in-store person that sells wine. And uh it kind of got me thinking that at some point this customer base that we're developing is gonna say, I don't even want to think. I just want to kind of press a button and know that within an hour or two, there's a care package that's meant for me. And it sounds very much like a wine club, and it is, but it's also based upon the fact that we're not dealing with kind of mediocre or subpar wines here. We're starting off with very, very, very good hand-selected wines that you've chosen that in turn people are saying, show me what you got, show me what you got. And it's not based upon an algorithm online, it's based upon an actual person on the phone understanding this person on a person-to-person basis. That's where I think that we're going, is just basically you know, focusing in on our clientele and providing them the most specific wine or liquor or beer that we think is the best for them.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

Gotcha, understandable. It's you know, I've and I think when we had this convo, I said it it just kind of feels like that's where it's going. You see all these things online where you're talking about like a wine club, you know, but if you're in the business, you know the kind of wines they put in wine clubs, you know, it's you know, not their top level, it's not even their medium level, it may be their bottom level wines that they just want you to try because I think they're just trying to fill a base for people that are like, you know what, we just want to have a nice wine selection, we don't know too much about wine, and that's where these wine clubs come in because they they kind of help those customers just kind of fulfill that basic, you know, touch of what they really want to start learning about wine. I think if you're more affluent, like you said, it's you want something that will number one knock your socks off, and two, give you something that's just you have not seen, as we've said with spirits just before this, and something that's great and for a really good price. You know, we don't it's not that you want to sell a hundred dollar bottle, but if that person wants it, they might ask for it. But you know, if you have a fair price for it and you have something that's not found everywhere that's you know low yield, you know, low production, it it's something that can get to that club level. And I think that's where you were what you were talking about, and where I was starting to think and starting to take that um discussion we had.

SPEAKER_01 20:22

Isn't this all going in a certain kind of pattern or direction, though? Meaning you go into a bar, you go into a lounge, you go into a restaurant, and really a bartender or server, they're there to give recommendations, but they're setting down a menu for you to look at and make a decision. And if you have a quick question for them in person, they're there to answer it. But what happens when bars and restaurants and lounges become unavailable? How are you gonna have that kind of human experience where you say, Well, we're gonna have to bring the wine bar into the home? So I think that we're kind of acting as these knowledgeable people with wine enough to say this is what you want to spend your money on blindly and give it a tasting, you know, treat your home as if it was the bar or the lounge or the winery. It's it's like virtual thinking, like kind of creating these uh home environments into uh into escapes. And I also think that there's gonna be a huge shift in restaurants. I think this is the best time more than now than ever to say, oh, a chef is out of work, they can't work at a restaurant, maybe they should go to people's homes and cook for them.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

No, no, absolutely. I I it it's that's why I thought this conversation was so interesting because it's with this whole Service that we're doing by you selecting the wines, putting together a package. What it's showing is that some customers, you know, might say, you know what? After all this is said and done, life goes goes back to normal. You know, I can call Unwind. I know Aaron, I know Floyd will put something together, a wine package for me, that I don't have to worry about. I don't have to think about. I know those two will take care of me. And I think that's what we're developing now is that that level of trust. It's not when you go to a bigger chain store and you'll see like this employee's favorite, you know, or their top seller, where it's just more about moving that particular product. What we're doing now, and what I've seen, is that we're earning the trust of all these people. And I think that's why they continue to come back. As you said, we've had repeat customers that will call like one week, and then two weeks later they're calling again saying, Hey Aaron, man, I need you to hook me up again. And then another two weeks, hey Aaron, I need another order. So I think that what we're developing is this like branding. It's this branding.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

I don't, I actually don't, I don't want to deal, I don't want to deal with a thousand customers. I want to deal with the same 10 customers.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

Yeah, exactly. And it's like we're branding as ourselves as we're gonna take care of you, we're we're gonna make sure we put together the right package. There's no reason to doubt, there's no reason to like sit there and think that you're not gonna get the best quality product delivered to you. And I feel at this time what that's doing is that's setting us up for the future where, hey, maybe it's gonna be that we're not going back to restaurants and bars anytime soon as we would like to. Not saying that, you know, we might have limited capacity, you know, unwind boutique might only let one person at a time in the store, you know, due to everything that's happening. But what we're working on, and what I'm seeing as the future is you know what? I'm gonna call that store Unwind Boutique. They're gonna put together a great package for me, even if it's two bottles of wine, three bottles of wine, a case, I will trust them to put something together that's great, they'll deliver it to me, and I will definitely enjoy it, and I'll keep going back to them because I know they will take care of me. And that's how I felt about that. I I I'm seeing that now, and I I'm wondering how is that gonna be? How can we work that further? Like, how is the industry gonna be further than that?

SPEAKER_01 24:41

Have you ever actually belonged to one of those online wine clubs before pre-COVID? Uh yeah, yeah, pre-COVID.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Yes. Uh, my wife, before I bought the store, so when I was still working as a teacher, um, once we were working all the paperwork to buy the store and the liquor license, I I my wife bought me a wine package to get started. And you know, I didn't know anything, so I'll be honest. I had no clue what I got on the package. I never heard of half of all any of those wines. Remember, I've only when I was before the store, you know, I drank Pinot Grigales with my wife. I drank anything that somebody put out in front of me, my my father-in-law. So I really had no idea. You know, Santa Margarita was like the only thing me and my wife really drank a lot of. But yes, I did belong to it.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

There's a wine club that I joined for, I'm gonna say it was a year under, just because I gave it a shot. It was called Vitacol. And it was one of the people that were the subject of Som on that that documentary about Sommelier's.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

And what this guy did was he travels the world at these very obscure wineries and vineyards and finds wine that is not actually available to the market. He takes the wine and he puts his own label on them, and sometimes he gives like a cool little art design, but he spotlights small vineyards that are not commercial. And I thought that was the coolest idea ever because you got a lot of biodynamic stuff, you got a lot of organic stuff, you got low production wine that was just fantastic for the most part. And the only reason I got out of it because uh I just didn't like the idea that I wasn't in control of finding and hunting and picking out my own wine. But besides that, whenever I called in, I always dealt with the same individual at that wine club. And I thought, what if there was a wine store or a place that was around me that could capitalize off this? This idea of saying that you had a one-on-one relationship with the person that worked at the wine store where they could say, I know exactly what you're looking for, and I can help you out with this. And I don't think that's a service that's really available at most chains. I think it's mostly like, do you have it or do you not have it?

SPEAKER_00 27:17

And that's what I think that's interesting about this whole pandemic, you know, in a sense of, you know, in working at the store, remember, customers always kind of, you know, when they would walk in, you know, I want something, I want Josh. Well, we don't sell Josh, but I I have this, and where customers were like reluctant to kind of no, no, no, I want Josh. Yeah, I no, no, no, no, no, don't nothing else, but this is better than Josh, same price, and you will definitely enjoy it. It's better. And people were so against it, and I think what you're seeing now is that people at this moment, because things are so topsy turvy, they're willing to try anything at this moment where they're willing to take you know our recommendations and run with it and not give you any, like, you know, oh, I don't drink that, I don't like that, I like only this particular wine. So also it made me think that we're also kind of doing this great little service where people's attitudes are so changed because of what's going on, where now we've opened them up to wine, to different wines they've never had. So I would love to see when things get back. If a customer comes into my store and let's say they, you know what, they liked Donati, uh, the Cabernet. If they come in the store and say, you know what? I remember two months ago you delivered this Cabernet. I want to get another bottle. Like, I would love that's what I'm really I would love to start tracking is like how much of an impact did our service really do in making customers try new things and appreciate different wines versus what they are used to drinking at the bigger chain stores. I don't know how you feel about that.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

I'm just kind of thinking to myself that a lot of people that are calling us or people that would normally have this nine to five schedule every single day, where by the time that they actually said, let me sit down with a bottle of something, uh, they didn't really care what they were drinking. They didn't really understand what they were drinking. It was just, was it good and did it go with the food I was having that night? And now what I'm seeing happening is all these people that had these high-paying jobs where they'd wake up at six or seven in the morning, go into the city, work until five or six, then come back and just say, I don't care, just pour me something. Now they're starting to pay attention. Now they're starting to say, I got all this time on my hands. So not only do I want to get drunk more, but now I'm gonna start saying, I like that, I like this, I like this, I like that. So in the beginning, if you recall, it was Sauve Blanc, it was Sauve Blanc, it was Sauve Blanc. We're out of it now. And now people are saying, okay, well, if you don't have this, I've trusted other recommendations that you've been making to me. What do you have that's like it, or what do you have that I might be willing to try? Because this is now the time where I'm open to trying new stuff because I'm drinking more and I have more time to pay attention to it. So that's when we're saying, try a white burgundy, try a Chenon Blanc, uh, try a Chardonnay, try something that you normally wouldn't try. And because we're getting so many repeat customers, there is a trust factor. And I absolutely love the trust factor because at some point they're just saying, stock me up.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

Yeah, exactly. It's put it in a box, bring it to my house. I'm willing to try because we're just stocking up for everything. And it's, you know, when I go to the store and I just, you know, go around, dust the bottles off a little bit. It's interesting to see everything that is being tried now. And you get to a certain point where you're like, you know what? I'm gonna somebody wants a case. I'm gonna put this a Spanish red in there, a good temper new, or I'm gonna sp I'm gonna put a Portuguese red in there, or a Greek red. Now people are willing to just take the help and the advice because they're in a stuck at home mode. Yeah, you're right. They're they're used to going out, grabbing that bottle, saying, I'm just going to dinner. I don't need anything crazy. Remember, that was like the quote of all time. It's like, I don't need anything crazy, I'm just going to dinner. All right, sir. What would you, you know, how much do you want to spend? Oh, I only want to spend this. Okay, boom. One, two, three. Now, with the way it's going, is people are willing to say, Hey, you know what? Uh definitely try that because Unwind Boutique is out of Savo Blanc's now, or they're out of you know, uh Rieslings, or they're out of this. Oh, it's the perfect time for them to try this, you know, white burgundy. You're right, you're absolutely right. And it's it's great. And I think that it's also offering customers the ability to sit there and you know, try different things and make a more sound opinion because they have more time on their hands versus where they're in a store and they have a two-minute period of trying to choose a wine for dinner. So I think it's I want the best recommendation possible.

SPEAKER_01 32:23

I want the best wine possible within a two-minute frame where you know I either trust you or I don't after this. Whereas now I think people just have more of an open mind.

SPEAKER_00 32:34

Yeah, it's like blind tasting. It's kind of like you're putting these bottles out, you're covering them up and going, all right, try them all. What do you think? But now it's like it's not spur of the moment, it's not a quick rash decision. It's okay, I'm at the house, I bought a case. Hey, honey, let's bring out that Pinot Gris that we have from you know from Oregon. Let's try it. And and it's it's just such a great thing now that I see. So, you know, I'm very interested to see where it's gonna go because I just think it's the sky's the limit here. And you know, it's just been a great way of really studying how the industry is gonna be now going forward if if we get back to normalcy.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

We'll get back to normalcy. I mean, even when we get back to normal, there's gonna be precautions or this knowledge of something that happened, you know, months or a few years ago, where people are gonna say, Well, should we fill a bar to capacity? I I also think honestly, people are stupid. I I think that people are just really stupid. And I'm not talking about our customers, but but I'm talking about Yeah, you gotta you gotta make sure you put that and say, I'm not talking about the customers. Put that in writing. No, I think that at some point people are freaking out right now, but as soon as it gets a little bit warm outside, you're gonna start people seeing, you know, they're gonna be out in droves hanging out outside in crowds. I can't wait until there's some kind of really, really stupid thing that happens where uh, say, a bar down the shore filled it past max capacity and there was an accident or everybody got infected into the place. I think that there's also something to be learned about the fact that uh we can go back to normal gradually, and it at some point people will go back to restaurants and bars. But for right now, I think people are just incredibly cautious and they're thinking to themselves, how do I maximize my time at home? You know, I mean, think about pools, gyms, uh bars, restaurants, anything that requires you to be around a bunch of people in one setting, these places will eventually reopen, but are they gonna be the same? So when it goes back to normal, will it even still be normal?

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Yeah, absolutely. Yep, you're right. It's will it really be back to normal? I know some states, you know, I watch the news 24 hours a day now, but some states are doing all that together. No, it's not good. It's I'm I'm forced to because my wife puts it on and I have to kind of watch it, so I try not to switch it up. But it's it's some states are doing that where they're opening gyms, they're opening restaurants, you know, some businesses, but I know our area, the new, you know, like the New Jersey, New York area, they're not doing that just yet. But it's I think this is such a unique way of now dealing with customers where they're gonna develop this brand. This brand is gonna be Unwind Boutique, we'll take care of me. Aaron, Floyd, the stores will make sure they always put the best products in. It's like you talked about the wine club. It's like with those wine clubs, you know, you don't know what you're getting. But I think with us, you know what you're getting. And it was like, remember those two ladies that came in our store and we were talking, this is before we shut down a millburn, and we were and you had very, very, very close to one shirt.

unknown 36:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

When you were like, Okay, ladies, you brought the mellow corn in, and you were like, What do you what do you think we should do? Should I do you think we should sell this? And I'm gonna put it right here. What do you feel what do you you try it? They tried it, and they were like, I don't know, it's a little too burnt. One said it was too hard, the other one said it was fine. And then we said, and you were like, All right, I'm gonna put it over here now. See how it looks if I put it next to this bottle. And the ladies looked at and they were like, No. And the one, what did the one lady say to us? You're better than that.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

But I see, I would love a situation where customers started telling us what to carry within reason. Meaning, I would love to have um kind of samples or uh virtual tastings or virtual pores that we could send out to people and say, You like that? And and if if they if they like it, you kind of base it off that. You know, like I the only thing I really hate with these wine clubs is if you've ever taken one of those tests before, like those little surveys, and they say, Well, do you like oak? Do you like chocolate? Do you like blueberries? I say, Okay, well, your perfect wine is this. That is so impersonal. That is so impersonal. And I think these wine clubs, you know, I before COVID, I'm gonna keep on saying pre-COVID as my motto from now on, but pre-COVID, I think Napa Valley, especially, all these winers were saying, What do millennials like? Wait, because we're losing them, they're not buying wine like they used to or like their parents are, and they're kind of getting scared. And so we've had discussions like this saying the problem is when they claim to think they know the customer, right? When they claim to think that they know what the customer is doing or uh how the customer thinks by giving them these little quizzes to take before they send them out uh wine, I think it's it's an insult to people's intelligence, which is why I love the fact that somebody can call us, like me or you directly and say, tell me what I like. And you say, Okay, let's let's talk about this for a little bit and just kind of get to know who you are and what you might like. So if somebody says I like something bold and rich and I like oak and I like that kind of mocha flavor, I'm not gonna somehow go beep, boop, boop, beep, oh, pinot noir. Yeah, you know, it's it's just I think it's silly. Some of these wine clubs, they don't really understand people because it's not a person quizzing you, it's a computer quizzing you.

SPEAKER_00 38:50

No, it's absolutely right. It's it's something that you want to make the experience the best possible experience. You know, I think that what you're doing, you know, it's it's gotta be important, it's gotta be valuable. People, Americans in general, everything has to be of value. You know, I'm paying this money, I want the best value for this money. So I think what's different about us is like we're not talking to customers in a sense of what wine do you drink? Oh, you you like this particular name? I'm gonna make sure I bring that in next week for you. No, it's more of like, hey, what kind of profiles do you like with your wine? Oh, you don't like vanilla? Okay, so then we'll stay away from certain wines. Oh, you don't like spice? Okay, we'll stay away from you know certain wines that have it. And we're catering to that. We're making those hard choices where we're taking that that thinking away from customers. You know what I mean? It's like it's how I feel about movies sometimes. You know, I love certain movies. Like, why do I love Marvel movies? Because I can watch them. I don't have to think. It's action, it's adventure, it's mystery, it's they're fun. It's like Rise of Skywalker, it's one of the best movies out there because it's fun. And I know you don't like it, but that's what made it fun. I like I like parts of it, but that's what made it fun. And I think that's where I think I uh my way of looking at it is like I want to make this fun. I don't want to fight, I don't want to argue, I don't want to try to sell something I can't possibly sell in the store, you know. I want to make the shopping experience the best uh experience ever, make it fun, make it knowledgeable, you know, and I think Unwind Boutique is offering that. I think when we get back to business, you know, we were doing wine tastings. We were having wine tastings in the front of the store, and we were having cheese and you know, ham and anything, and we were pairing certain wines with it. We had our burgundy tasting. We also, with that burgundy wine that we had open, we had an Oregon wine open. We had a California Pinot. That was just fun. That was fun night.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

We had we even had a Thanksgiving one where we had but but here's the thing but here's the thing too. Why this works too is if you were always a jerk to begin with, you know, what makes you think that you're gonna be a jerk during or after COVID, right? Um a lot of my whole thing is, and again, you can call me a rabble rouser or troublemaker, but I would call liquor stores and I'd say, Can you give me a really good recommendation? These are the things that I like, these are the things I want. I'm looking for something like this. Almost nine out of ten times they would just say, Let's check inventory. They don't want to help you, they're hired hands for the most part. And I mean that in the best way possible. Like it's like it's like going to Target and saying, I want to find a chic dress, or I want to find a like a really stylistic pair of flip-flops. Um you know the problem is that you don't have enough people at these big chain wine stores or liquor stores saying, We want to help you, or we want to actually get involved in your decision. We I you know, I want to be that person that holds every customer's hand and says, I don't want you to come back here upset or pissed off. Yeah, I want you to come back here and say, What else do you got? Because you seem to know me. It's it's it's understanding the customer on almost like a psychological level where they think you know what I like.

SPEAKER_00 42:43

Yeah, I I I or I trust I trust your opinion. You know what? I've I've had that wine before. I've I've come to your store, you've always recommended wines that were great. I've never had a problem coming to the store. And I and that's what's that's what's great about the sm the that's that small kind of comfy feeling of unwine boutique is that it's a smaller store, it makes you feel comfortable. It's not overloading. It's you have Floyd that owns it, that talks to you, that remembers one wine you had last week and remembers what wine you had two months ago, or Aaron that's there on the you know on the weekends when you work there, and you're talking to customers when they're calling from one of the restaurants in town, and you're recommending a wine that goes with a food they're having. I think it's great. I I think it's I think the future is is leaning towards this, and I think there's just more to talk about when it comes to the future of the liquor industry, the wine industry, the beer industry, you know, future of wine selling, really. Exactly. The future of wine selling in general it's just it's there's so much that we can always dive into, but I I'm I'm with you, man. This is where the business is kind of leaning, and you're right about the bigger chain stores. When I walk in there too, and I say, What do you recommend? And it's always the pick of the week. It it's always the pick of the week, or it's always the one that's on special. You know what I mean? Wine select, store select. Exactly. So it's I think we're on the right track, man. I think that the the business is always evolving, ebb and flow. It's always moving. And I think that our discussions that we always have, they're always fun, they're always positive ways to make the business move and to make the industry kind of work for us. And I think that's where the store is going, which is so cool and so positive that, like I said, I'm I'm I can't wait to see what happens next going forward when everything kind of starts getting back in that groove again.

SPEAKER_01 44:44

Well, I mean, without kind of getting too shady or kind of weird or anything, what does it sound like when you call somebody up on their cell and the guy says, I'll give you a call back in a little bit, and you get on the phone with them saying, Okay, I got this, I got this, this will this will be really nice. This is special occasion stuff. And you literally show up their doorstep and leave it on their porch within an hour or two. We are wine dealers. That's no, we're we're we're we're no for at least for the time being, we are no longer a store. Yeah, we are just a supply. And the best thing that we're doing really is just filtering out what's good, what's not good, what's uh special, and what's just kind of your everyday stuff. Like we're wine dealers, and I'm happy to be there right now. You know, it's better than being out of business.

SPEAKER_00 45:40

Absolutely, man. Yeah, absolutely. But uh, you know, um I think that we're gonna talk more down the line about you know what we've been seeing, what are the trends we've been seeing at the store in terms of what people are actually ordering and what they what they want more of. And I think that's gonna be our next episode. I think that you know, Riggs and Murtaugh here, we're gonna talk about trends, you know, maybe a little lethal weapon, you know, movie trivia here and there. And but I think that it's the trends. We're gonna talk about that because I feel like that's the new thing we need to analyze. Like if we're talking about the business in general and where it's going, talking about the trends is definitely gonna make it, you know, more interesting and seeing where it's going. But you know, I think that we should uh end it on that note. I think we've had a great discussion. I'm happy there.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

I'm happy there.

SPEAKER_00 46:29

Exactly. So thank you very much for listening to Salman Sommer again, Unwind Boutique. Please visit us on Facebook at unwindeboutique.com and also on Instagram, not unwindboutique.com, but unwind boutique, and then on Instagram at unwind boutique. And that's my deal. And Aaron, if you have anything to add, nothing to add right now.

SPEAKER_01 46:49

I'm tapped out.

SPEAKER_00 46:50

All right. Well, thank you very much for listening and have a great night.