The first store I visited is a local favorite in my neighborhood, Wine & Spirit Co. of Forest Hills. It is located on 72-09 Austin St, Forest Hills; the store has been open for 20 years on Queens Blvd, it has since moved to its current location for about 8 years. The store is owned by Danny Bentz, and I had the pleasure of meeting three of his employees, Richard (who calls himself the professor of white wine), Carlos and James. They were very friendly. They were very happy to help me with my project, but they were reluctant to let me take any photos. They did eventually. I went in around lunch time so they were getting ready for lunch; Richard was eating a roasted chicken, so he gave me a friendly lecture on wine and food paring, like how a chardonnay or a Sauvignon Blanc will go excellent with his meal. The store has three sections; the front houses the cheaper, more affordable and low quality wines. The middle section houses spirits and the most common high-quality wines and the back houses the more expensive and high-quality wines.  The wines are then organized by region, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Germany, with the exception of USA wines, that’s organized by grape varieties. There is also a small section of kosher wine due to the large population of the Jewish community in Forest Hills. All of their wines are at eye level, with the top and bottom selves as stock. James told me that their sugary wines, blends and the not so dry cabernets are their best sellers. The store is a bit messy in terms of organization, they did not have any large labels or indications on the regions, so I had to ask James  several times to show me where each region is located in their store. James did however explain why, he said “most people who come in to our store doesn’t know what they want, so we organize our wine the way it is because it’s easier for us.” He also said that a lot of our customers are old time customers so they already know where the wines they want are.

The storefront, they are currently in a process of installing a new sign.                                 
The view of the entire store, you can see that there are three sections.

This is the front of the store, where they store the more affordable, lower-quality wines.

The back section of the store where they store the more expensive, higher quality wines.

This is a special section just for Cabernet. It’s the only section in the store where the wines are organized by price. Top shelve is the most expensive with a bottle of Cabernet that’s $120!

The stock shelves.

The Pinot Noirs. The little sign in the back gives a small description of it. It says “… the red grape of Burgundy… balanced black cherry-like fruit…”

They also have a nice selection of hard liquor. I bought a bottle of grey goose, Richard gave me a 15% discount and told me to write good things about them.

The second store I visited is called Mr. Vino and it is located on 10702a 71st Ave, Forest Hills. I did not have a good experience here. I came in here about a week ago and was told to come back next Monday when the manager is here. The manager is America Diaz. The store was very small but it was a lot more organized and clean than the first store i visited. They have a very large selection of wine from all over the world, France, Spain/Portugal, Bordeaux, Italy/Greece, and Germany/Austria. It is organized in that order from the left of the store and circles around to the right with Argentina, Chile, Australasia, and New Zealand in the middle. All their wines are also at eye level with the top and bottom shelves as stock like the first store. They are a small selection of vintage and USA wines behind the register in a glass box. They also have interesting beehive design of the shelves. Ms. Diaz wasn’t very friendly, she told me that she is not going to answer if I had more than 10 questions, she said she was very busy and I didn’t come at the right time. Ms. Diaz did tell me that they get their wines from a lot of different companies and she knows what the population in Forest Hills want. Most of their wines are under $30.

She did not allow me to take any pictures.

But here is the storefront.

They also have a cheese shop right around the corner.

The wine store I chose was the Wine Outlet located in Secaucus, New Jersey. This store has been opened for many years, and my family and friends highly recommended it to me for this project. I must admit, I was not impressed by name of the store. The word outlet did not give me the “feeling” that this was going to be a good store.

I strongly believe the outside of the store needs a little update and also brighter and fresher signs. However, once I got inside of the store I was in shock as I was not expecting what I saw. There is a lady at the entrance welcoming people, very kind, and friendly. I love the fact she did not follow me everywhere I went, she simply told me “let us know if you need any assistance”.

The store is definitely divided in different sections. I love the fact they have the wines divided by country. This helped me tremendously as I am currently learning about wines based on each country. For a beginner like me, it was pretty amazing!!! Then, each country has its own wines further sub-divided by red, white, rose, sparkling, and in the case of France there is a section for Champagne.

Some of the countries that truly captured my attention was Spain and Chile. I was informed by the store manager that these two countries are producing and selling more and more wines everyday. He also told me that even though France is/was the number one wine producer, consumers’ tastes have changed drastically. Actually, I thought the most interesting aspect of his explanation was that many consumers dislike how complicated wine labels are. Many do not understand what AOC stands for, AOP, terms such as Chateau, Cote, Cuvee, etc. It is not even about the fact is in French, but most wines from France have too many “words” on their labels.

It is not that wine consumers have become lazy neither, but they simply care about more flavor, price, year, and color (red, white, rose). This was so interesting to me! For instance, in this picture you can clearly see that says Spanish Summer Wines, Light & Refreshing. I believe that if more signs like this are created, there will be more wine drinkers. Again, people dislike when they do not know about a product and when it gets too complicated.

The picture below shows the Italian wine section. I also think the store can do a little upgrading inside. They do have the wines also separated by grape style, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, etc, but more clear signs will not hurt them. It truly caught my attention the fact they have their Italian wines in the same section as the ones from Australia.

Something that I’ve learned during this store visit was about Organic Wines. I did not know this type of wine even existed. The store manager explained that these are wines that are made in accordance with principles of organic farming; they are free of any chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides. This type of wine is also growing in the United States and also overseas. There is a full section of organic wines and they use the same grapes for other types of wines.

Besides the store set up, different grape types, countries, and all other complexities that wine can bring, what I truly learned and concluded from this project is that people are interest more about wine than before, and that many individuals prefer wine labels that are easy to read and comprehend. Also, that price does not necessarily equal quality from a “consumer” point of view.

Based on your wines what countries/ regions do you carry at this location?

Is there a certain orientation or a certain way by which you organize your wines to be placed and visualize?

how do you choose which case are placed in the front cases?

do you happen to carry a wine that is fermented in steel and another in oak, if so which are they?

would you happen to carry a wine that can be aged within your location?

How would you place your expensive classy wines compared to your lower more moderate priced wines?

If you are looking for trends during your retail wine shop analysis why not read this article first. Can you make any connections between what Lettie Teague is writing about and what you see in the store? Would you try the wine she recommends?

Red Wine Trends, WSJ

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-red-wine-blends-trend-more-than-just-flashy-packaging-1425661090