StateWays is the only magazine exclusively covering the control state system within the beverage alcohol industry, with annual updates from liquor control commissions and alcohol control boards and yearly fiscal reporting from control jurisdictions
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Jones, assistant direc- tor of the VDABC's wholesale/retail oper- ations division, refers to as the stores' "pre- mium locations," including the front part of the store and other high-traffic areas. Generally, a product must be priced at $10.50 or higher for a 750 ml, $12.60 or higher for a liter and $17.85 for a 1.75. And these mini- mum prices are higher View of some endcaps and floor displays at Virginia state stores. during the holiday season. "Our displays are set up to increase our sales and to get customers to trade up," Jones explained. "We would rather have people buy better than to buy more." The VDABC has also come up with a simple way to allow vendors to build eye-catching displays without bringing in a lot of extra product that, then, might not sell through quickly. Their solution? Empty cases. "We will replenish stock for sales but not to build displays," said Jones, "but we will give vendors, or allow them to bring in, empty cases." The Virginia DABC has also been offering in-store tastings for a little over a year. In fact, they've gone in for tastings in a big way. "In November, we have 400 in-store tastings on the schedule," said Jones, who reports that the sampled products often experience a "significant lift" in sales during the tasting itself. U Try It, You'll Like It ntil this year, it had been illegal to open a bottle in a state, contract or tribal liquor store in the state of Washington. But that law was changed in a recent legislative session and the Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) is testing the use of spirits tastings in a year-long pilot program involving 30 stores, of all three types, located across the state. The tastings started in September. They are held during the busiest two-hour window the stores have. "We actually looked that up," said Debby Besser, the WSLCB's director of purchasing and the executive spon- sor of this pilot. Those windows are Fridays and Saturdays, from 4 to 6 pm. The tastings are sponsored by and run by suppliers. The suppliers' people have to attend a mandatory train- ing session about the tastings in particular, hold a Mandatory Alcohol Server Training (MAST) permit, 18 the same permit Washington State bartenders and servers are required to have, and have an agent license. Up to four spirits can be sampled. The serving size is ? ounce and each person can have a maximum of four samples. Products that are over 110 proof must be dilut- ed. "We have good controls in place," said Besser. "We know the products are being served responsibly." The WSLCB has other requirements regarding what products are sampled. The same products can't be sampled over and over again, for instance. Also, "since one of the goals of these tastings is to encourage people to trade up," explained Besser, sampled products must cost more than the average price in their category. The products must be listed or one-time order (such as a lim- ited-edition or a holiday product), making them readily available in stores. They cannot be special-order items. The New Hampshire Liquor Commission (NHLC) has also recently begun offering in-store tastings, of both wine and spirits. Most of its 77 state stores can hold these tastings; the only exceptions are its four major highway stores. The tastings, offered two Thursdays and two Saturdays a month, feature a few innovations. For instance, a customer who buys one of the sampled prod- ucts during the tasting gets a $2 per bottle discount. Also, licensees, such as restaurants, are encouraged to participate, by providing food items that pair with the sampled products. In fact, one of the NHLC's newest stores, located in Nashua, features a full gourmet kitchen onsite, which the licensees can use for the tast- ings. And licensees that do participate receive a 10-per- cent discount on their next purchase. "It's the 'see, feel, touch' selling method," said Joe Mollica, NHLC's chairman, "not to mention smell and taste. People are more apt to buy something if they can taste it and if they get it at a discount." StateWays s www.stateways.com s November/December 2011