This first picture is considered as the “Shelf Talker.” It is also their best selling wine, because customers love it, and it is cheap to purchase.
This second picture is the red wine from Spain. It is 60% Bobal, and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon. The vintage is 2018, and it contains 13.5% alcohol. The label in the front and back is mostly in spanish, but it was the Cabernet Sauvignon that interested me.
This third picture is the sparkling wine that is not from France. A lovely, rosy watermelon hue, dry and frothy, with deep delicious flavors of raspberry, orange rind, and herbs. It is from Spain, and it contains 12% alcohol.
This fourth picture is the red wine from a region i did not know that made wine. The design of the label drew my attention with its color, font style, and the flower. It is a 100% Syrah wine, and it contains 12.5% alcohol. The vintage is 2018.
I went to Chamber Street Wines, which is located at 148 Chamber Street, New York, NY 10007. I chose this retail store because it is near to the place I was going to work at that day. Unfortunately I was unable to call in advance to schedule a meeting with a manager or a store employee, due to the lack of free time I had before, and if I am being honest with you, I was procrastinating on picking a retail store to do this assignment. I went on Saturday November 16th 2019, at around 2:15pm after work. The place was not hard to find. I would say that my experience there was great. I did not get any hostile attitudes or behaviors from any employees of the store.
As I enter the store, I saw it was filled with bottles and bottles of wines. At first I felt like the few employees there would not have been able to help me because of the limited time, but it was not so. It was kind of busy on that day and time, with customers asking for help to purchase wines. Unfortunately, I was just a student who came to visit for my assignment, and I am under the age to legally purchase alcohol. The store was medium in size, and it felt like there was not much space to fully move around through the aisles, with the hundreds of wine they had. I was being super careful with how I was walking and picking up the wines, feeling nervous that I would end up dropping a bottle on the floor, having the glass shatter to pieces and wine all on the floor.
First I spoke with a woman and explained to her that I am a student of New York City College of Technology, who is taking a Wine class this semester. I am required to take pictures and ask an employee questions for an assignment. She said it was okay to do so and she was happy to help. Then I asked her if where are the shelf talker, and she stated that since the store isn’t that big to officially have one. Therefore, theirs were shown with a laminated paper detailing the wines in a box. But then customers came in and asked for her assistance to purchase wines, so she told to give her a few minutes before she continues helping me out. I started walking around, wondering and trying to figure out what was what to get the rest of pictures I needed. I asked the employees who was shacking and packing, but they did not have any knowledge. Then a very welcoming employee called Ben Fletcher came up to me and asked if I needed assistance. I told him the same thing I told the woman, and he showed to the wines to get my pictures, which he gave a few minutes to analyze on my own. Then came back to me to answer my questions, when there were a few customers left in the store.
He grew up in Virginia, and been living in New York for four years now. He said that it really likes it here. Although he mostly studied geography and history, he figured that there was a way to have that work into this business. There was also something that grab him to work with wines, besides being passionate about importing them, and wanting to focus on Spanish wines. But he had done wine education in 2015, which prepared him for a test called WSET, and thought it was a great way to start in this business. The best part of his job is getting to be around intelligent workers in learning something every day, and the customers that are excited to purchase the wines. The worst part of his job is working six days a week, especially on holidays, which are the really crazy and busy times. But he said that once you are totally committed, then you can get through it.
