Perla Jimenez 

Prof. Dagorn

HMGT 2402

03/24/2020

Retail Beverage Store Analysis

This past weekend, I visited a wine & liquor store called “Leiser Liquors Inc.” This establishment is located at 41-30 162nd Street in Flushing. I chose this store because I read online that they hold a great variety of wines. I made a call to the store before going over, and I explained to them that I was taking a wine course. I requested if I could come in and ask them a few questions regarding this assignment. The guy who picked up the phone said he was  unsure if they would be open the following day due to the virus, but he would help by answering any of my questions through the phone. The first question I asked was about how many types of wines they had in the store. He immediately responded that there are so many wines that he couldn’t make up a number. However, he did mention that the wines were organized by countries, and the appellations within that country. They had the sweet wines on one side and the semi-sweet in another and so on. As someone who prefers to see things visually, I decided to visit the store the next day.

Looking at the store from the outside, it seemed like a small shop. When I walked in I was quite surprised because the store is huge. The first thing I noticed were big signs hanging from the ceiling, indicating the number of the row and the country of the wine. Some signs also indicated if it was a red or white wine. There was mostly wine and barely any spirits. I started to look around to see all the different wines they had. I saw wines as cheap as $7 dollars and wines that went up to $97 dollars. Wines from countries that I did not imagine made wine like Croatia, Greece, New Zealand, Peru and many more countries that I never thought were also producers of wine. 

As I walked around in the store and stared at every single bottle of wine, One of the employees approached me to ask if I needed help. I mention how I was there for a project and that I’ve called the day before. The lady said she couldn’t help me without me asking any questions. After that, I ended up going to the counter and explaining to another employee my purpose for being in the store. With her head down looking at her phone she immediately responded that the manager is not here. I went to the row where the Coatian wines were located and another employee approached me by my name. It was one of my classmates from high school who said he could try and help with the assignment. He mentioned that they had over 4000 items in the store and that some of the wines that sold the most were cabernet sauvignon which cost about $9. Chateau Ste. Michelle Columbia Valley Merlot ($15), and 19 crimes which cost $9.27.

I ended up getting five bottles of wine because they were recommended by my ex classmate Johan.  I bought a Vale Do Bomfim, Duro Doc 2015, a Marqués de càceres, Rioja, crianza 2015, a Bordeaux blend  2015, Anthony Road Riesling Semi-Sweet 2018 from New York and finally a Pacific rim sweet riesling 2018 from Washington state. The overall experience in the store was alright, I would definitely be going back there because they just have so much that you can choose from. Although some of the employees were a little rude, that does not discard the fact that it is a great store and there are other employees who are great and willing to help. 

Most of the wines in the store had shelf talkers which makes it easier for customers to understand the wine.

Signs with the row number, country of the wine, type of wines and some even had the types of grapes.

An entire left side of a row was filled with Sparkling wine from California starting at $8.

I was very surprised to find wine from Hungary due to the fact that I did not know they made wine. This wine is a Chateau Dereszla From the region of  Tokaj in Hungary. It is a blend of three grapes, 85% Furmint, 10% Yellow muscat and 5% Kabar.