For this report I visited the Ocean Wine & Liquor shop located in the heart of Chinatown. The wine shop was fairly new and they were first open in 2015 and their main goal is trying to promote different of wine to the chinese community. The is very convenient right off the D and B train and also surrounded by a lot of great restaurants. Upon my arrival to the wine shop I first notice the different section of wine and spirits. Each section was label and place by their regions, for example there was a section for korean liquor and wine. What you’ll find there is the soju liquor and makgeolli ( korean rice wine). Which was very convenient if you knew exactly what you are looking for. In the wine shop I was able to ask a couple of questions to the owner of the place because he was actually stocking up his shelf. My first question was what was his most sold item in the store? He mentions a lot of spirits was where the people mainly headed but in terms of wine a lot people like sweeter wine like rose and moscato. After that my second question was when purchasing cases of wine which region were mainly pick and why. He mentioned he would also have these two regions of wine and it was France and California. He explained many people seek for french wine because they think are the classic wine and a familiar taste. But for California it was more on the business side where purchasing from region outside of the USA may sometimes be a hassle. But now realizing the market has changed and people are demanding more different types of wine and he startled seeking different type of wine or alcoholic drink that consumers are liking at the moment. He also mentioned there is a struggle of have a wine shop in the middle of chinatown trying to introduce a new type of wine and or evening just different regions of wines in the current location because the consumer that are surrounding them or their target market are not just consuming wine but a lot of different alcoholic beverages. So their main focus are really trying to provide the needs of the new consumer trends and keeping up with the trends as much as possible.
It seems the managers know how to cater to their local market, that is important in a city with so many options.