Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/237970
Brown Derby International Wine Center has become a magnet store for the region. The Marketplace product selection, which includes a wide range of deli offerings and beyond, has enhanced the shopping experience for customers, as well as enhanced the store's bottom line. Whether it was pioneering the appreciation of niche and boutique California wines, launching a widely respected catalog business that made fine wine more accessible to the average wine consumer, or morphing the catalog business into an early and potent internet-driven business, Brown Derby has always been ahead of the curve. Recently that curve brought the attention of the management team – owner Ron Junge, wife JoAnn, son-in-law and director of operations Brad Feuerbacher and daughter Jennifer Feuerbacher – to the development of the Brown Derby Deli, a pairing of their well-established cured meat and cheese business with by-the-glass wine and bottled beer service at an in-store café. The latest venture, launched to coincide with Beaujolais Nouveau day this past November, began by offering seven wines by the glass priced from $4 to $20 (for five ounces of 2011 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon) and 25 beers, although the menu notes that any beer not listed is also available for purchase. Various cheese plates and charcuterie selections complete the opening day menu. moved to its current location in 1995, they increased the "Marketplace" product selection, focusing on meats, cheeses, and other deli items from around the world not available in the local market. Packaged foods became a focus as well, and products such as dips, sauces, chocolate and teas, to name a few, have become an integral part of the shopping experience at the Wine Center and Marketplace. By sampling these products on a daily basis WINE, CRAFT BEER with their customers, they are AND CHEESE BAR continually exposing them to new flavors and ways to enterhe 22-seat wine, tain at home. The next phase craft beer and of the "Marketplace" was getcheese bar, comting into housewares, gifts, plete with a comhome decor, bath and body, munal table that holiday decor and more, adding seats ten as well as smaller another dimension to the flagtables, opened as a result of a ship store. change in state law that allows Being first with innovations — RON JUNGE, retailers to sell beverage alcohol is built into the Brown Derby OWNER, BROWN DERBY for immediate consumption on International Wine Center & their premises, and is the only Marketplace DNA, say the pair. one like it in the state at the time, says Brad Feuerbacher. "We're an unusual store compared to wherever you go – "Today's consumer more and more wants to experi- my daughter and wife have sourced a lot of unusual ence things from local and small producers that they are things that have attracted both male and female cusunfamiliar with, and to provide them with a way to be tomers – food, clothing, gifts, even baby clothes and able to sit down and enjoy these items is another way for unique laundry detergent. People are coming in to buy us to connect with our customers," says Ron Junge. wine and they buy the laundry detergent every time," When the Brown Derby International Wine Center says Junge. T "In the Midwest we're known as the Moscato kings - five years ago we were selling a lot of it before it became a national trend." 24 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • January/February 2014