HMGT 2402, Wine & Beverage Management, Fall 2012

I thought these labels were pretty cool. As an artist i seen it as each producer were telling a story behind their wine or about the place it came from.

– Nykita (=

The Wine shop that i went to was North End and Wine and Liquor is located on 2509 Webster Ave Bronx N.Y. 10458. When you get off on Fordham Road you can see it easily and won’t miss it because the name of the store is in really big letters. When one stands in front of the store it looks like the inside is pretty big, but as always looks can be very deceiving. I am not sure if it was because they had just received an order but the day that I went in the store you were surrounded in a tight space of boxes. The atmosphere wasn’t really of a wine store but more of a bodega. The store sells both wine and liquor it was hard to go straight to the designated are for the wine but after a couple of looks around you could spot the wines.
The way that the wines were setup was by regions and grape varieties. The biggest section of the wines was for Italy and California. However the only regions and grape variety that were highlighted were Argentina, Italy, California, Chile, and Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. I was looking for French and German wines but there weren’t any sections for them, they were just scattered around the store. This is interesting because why would you have them around the store and not in a designated area. I was also surprised that I didn’t see a section for kosher wines; they lose a lot of customers by not supplying kosher wines. Recommendation that I would make when it comes to this section would be to make a section for Germany & France next to the other wine racks, and also to provide a variety of Kosher wines.
Another place where they store their wines is in a refrigerator that had 8 doors. They held the wines and some liquor at very cold temperatures. In this refrigerator you could see champagne and chardonnay, meaning that they sold these two wines either cold or at room temperature. What I noticed most about the bottles in the refrigerator was the way they were stored. They weren’t on a slant with the label up; the wines were standing straight up or on a wire rack.
When it comes to inquiring information about the wines wasn’t hard. All the wine had their own price tag and if you were looking for the good expensive wine they were locked away in a cabinet. Prices varied from $10 -$600, and from previous comments made from friends if you are ordering a large number of wine you can negotiate a good price. As far as sales go you can find them online, and in the store the sales associates can help you.
When it comes to the sales assistants it’s kind of like a heads or tails game heads they’ll treat you good tails they’ll be rude. When I walked into the store the lady behind the cash register smiled and welcomed me into the store, and the first associate that I asked for help to show me where the wines were smiled and easily helped me, even told me the way the wines was set up and that if I wasn’t sure of what I wanted and was looking for specific characteristics in a wine that he would be happy to help me. He seemed like he at least had a little bit of wine knowledge, but the second associate that I asked for help was kind of rude, he just told me he was busy that he would get someone else to help me and he never came back, or actually sent someone to help me.
Asides from the recommendations mentioned in the beginning another recommendation that I would give this store is to hire people with more wine knowledge. Unless you study wine it’s hard to pick a wine to match to a specific event or food, but if you have assistants in the store that can help with such matter then visiting the wine store won’t be so hard. I also think that if the assistants had more knowledge of the products they were selling they would be happier to help the customers instead of brushing them off. I would come back to this wine store if I was in the area and needed to like the first time I walked in, but I wouldn’t recommend a highly professional or a person who needs help in picking wines to come to the store. Next time I visit a wine store I will go the one that I usually go to, I don’t want to say that’s what I get for trying something new but I feel like in this case I would say so!.

The wine retailer that I decided to visit was Scotto’s Wine Cellar located at 318 Court Street, Brooklyn NY 11231. I decided to go to Scotto’s because of it’s proximity to school. Mainly, because I wouldn’t have to pay too much in travel expenses was my main motivation. Scotto’s Wine Cellar has been doing business since 1934. They opened their doors pre-prohibition only to be closed by the prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, sale and possession of alcoholic beverages. Because of this they were forced to close, they reopened in February of 1934 at their current location and when licensing changed they were able sell spirits and wine.

The layout of Scotto’s was not friendly at all. It was very cramped , and I found myself bumping into things. At every turn there was  wine , which was great, but their layout is much too clustered with wines, wine barrels as decoration and the customers. But what they lacked in space they made up for with organization . There is a clear pattern to how to the wines are organized There were several sections dedicated to the same wine regions and style of wine. There was ease in navigating this wine shop. There were handwritten signs stating the regions but those signs like the wine appeared in many places which made finding things by region fairly easy. They also have very reasonable prices , I saw a couple of great bottles for $10.

There were a lot of the regions highlighted at the wine shop. Many of the regions we discussed in class were highlighted. Regions such as France, Italy, Spain, and some we will discuss like Australia and South Africa, California. I found it interesting that they also  fare sold found in a typical liquor store and they also sell sake not your typical liquor store fare.

Scotto’s Wine Cellar was very great  when it came to promotional literature or listing of extra benefits. When asked I was referred to the website and another employee told me that did free delivery, wine tasting, food and wine pairings. I went to the website and found that they did something called a wine dinner and a description followed. The employee told me of the food and wine pairing,.

The customer service I must say was exceptional. I was greeted by the two people at the counter, one of which looked like the owner. After 10 seconds of being there then I was asked if I needed help finding anything. I felt like they really wanted to help with my request for more information. I told the girl at the front counter that I was doing a school project and if she had any promotional literature without breaking her gaze with the man next to her she said yes and  there is more information on the website.

My recommendation for Scotto’s Wine Cellar is too expand. There small space hinders them from doing more business. But I did to closely examine their location. There’s a terrific neighborhood atmosphere at Scotto’s where the staff are friendly and knowledgeable. They carry a good selection of local, regional, and imported wines and liquors. Their prices are very reasonable, and great discounts when you buy by the case
Scotto’s Wine Cellar has tremendous potential but is inhibited by space. I would most certainly return and make a purchase.

www.brooklynwine.com

Erica’s Retail Wine Shop Analysis

Click the link above to view an uploaded PDF of my retail wine shop analysis – if a full text version is preferred, let me know and I will post one as soon as possible.