For my wine retail assignment, I wanted to go a place that was a little bit more out of the box. I felt like everyone was going to do an expensive wine retail shop in Manhattan and I didn’t want that. I opted to go to a wine store that was in a lower income neighborhood. I wanted to see how wine is marketed to people like me or my family. I chose to interview the store owner at Wines & Liquors in 47 Junction Blvd. Flushing, Queens. Even before I could ask him anything, he went on a rant about wines. He got really excited to be interviewed and he started talking about New World versus Old World wines and how Cabernet Sauvignon was created. It was extremely interesting to see. As for the interview, I asked him the following:

• ¨Which is your highest selling wine? ¨

¨Although we have wines from all over the world, our most famous tend to be wines from California. We have a whole wall dedicated to the most selling right next to the doors so that our customers can easily find what they’re looking for. Our most famous brands are Yellowtail, Ménage à Trois and Barefoot. Most people who buy wine here want to buy wine for dinner and are not necessarily knowledgeable about the topic. There’s been an increase in people who buy wines from South America. We recently had a tasting of Argentinian Malbec which boosted its sales a lot. ¨

• ¨What is your background in and how did you end up working with wines? ¨

¨All I knew was that I wanted to do was make money. I do not have a background in wine. My background is in business. I knew I wanted to open up a business and I ended up choosing this one because it appealed to me. I knew nothing about wine or alcohol in general before opening the store. I decided to teach myself through the Internet and reading the labels of the wine before I would drink it. Since I would read the label before drinking, I would know what I’m looking for in that wine rather than just guessing. Everything that I know came from doing that or just taking online courses about wine. ¨

• How do you source your wines?”

“I have a wine database distributor that I order online and he brings them to me. Sometimes people want certain wines that we don’t have but we can order them from the distributor.”

Overall, I think they’re doing pretty good. The owner knows exactly what audience he’s going for hence why he has so much Buchanan’s and Hennessy. With that being said, if they want to reach a more higher end clientele, I think revamping their look and offering a bigger wine selection would benefit them a lot. Considering the audience that they’re serving, their selection is extremely diverse, but for a Manhattan upper-class clientele, it wouldn’t be enough.

Weird and suspicious sangria offered at this store

Prosecco: A sparkling wine that is not from France

Cava: Another sparkling that is not from France

Their sparkling and exotic wall

My cousin and I laughing in Spanish

Some of the best sellers

First place that I find Greek wine in

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CllULZt26Qq8BmqIdy5Gnm-3paoMr0CHEBCs1On9MAY/edit?usp=sharing