Beverage Dynamics

Beverage Dynamics July-August 2015

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.

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www.beveragedynamics.com July/August 2015 • Beverage Dynamics 29 [ RETAIL PROFILE ] "It's very much about our story, how we use wine and food in our lives, and all the traveling that we do around wine," she continues. "I wanted to be in everyone's lives, showing them why it's important to go to the wine store and get better service." This meant eschewing traditional advertising techniques in favor of modern methods. Digital technology allows Urban Grape to promote its lifestyle brand across multiple chan- nels frequented each day by a great number of people. "I write our newsletter and we're on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter - all the usual suspects," Hadley explains. Although that approach may be standard practice for the brands Hadley once represented, it's nothing normal in her new industry. "I think in liquor stores, you don't see retail- ers taking more of the brand-oriented approach," she says. This marketing strategy is not without its daily grind, as anyone who works in social media can at- test. "I think there's a huge amount of pressure to be present in our brand," Hadley says. "Sometimes when I put dinner down onto the table, my kids will ask, 'Why can't we eat until mommy takes a picture fi rst?'" Fittingly, with Hadley positioning The Urban Grape as a lifestyle brand, her children have pro- vided social-media inspiration. "I was doing a blog about one of our trips, and my son was scrolling through onscreen," she recalls. "He said to me, 'I think this would be better if you put in pictures of me and my brother.' People really respond to seeing kids on Facebook." "I try to keep it fresh and fun online," she adds. "I'm always introducing new products, but I make it about education, not just, 'Here's the product of the week.' I want to make people feel comfortable walking through our door. I want to remove any intimidation about seeing our wall of wine." Hadley is considering a series of short, online videos. They would depict customers using the tasting machine to deter- mine their palate, and selecting an appropriate bottle from the wall. The Urban Grape also has plans to launch a new website. Even with all these new ideas and platforms, Hadley does not intend to stray too far from what's been working. "Our message is about fi nding your palate, fi nding your voice. And our store's system, the whole approach, makes that easy," she says. "It's up to me to make sure that that experience is being carried through by everything we do outside the store." BEER AND SPIRITS The Urban Grape extends its progressive philosophy to stock- ing beer and other products. The company is continuing to expand its beer focus with the offshoot program called Urban Hops, which includes another novel shelving system. "We used to arrange beers by style," TJ says. "Just a few weeks ago, we switched over to ar- ranging by their predominant for- mat: malts, hops or yeast." Similar to wine, The Urban Grape further organizes beers within format groups on a 1-10 scale of intensity. "People are making so many styles of beer nowadays, so this makes more sense," TJ says. "For beer novices, this is much easier to understand. Do you like hops? Yes or No? Malts? Yeast? And to what extent?" "But this is also good for beer geeks," he adds, "because now they can head straight for the 9s and 10s, and try much different beers that are made for their more-developed palates." Whiskey is arranged based on style and taste, and by price point. "I can't keep anything brown in stock," TJ says. Because whiskey can be ex- pensive, The Urban Grapes keeps around opened bottles for customers to sample. "Buying whiskey is an invest- ment," TJ explains. "You keep a bot- tle of whiskey around for a long time. It's something you fall in and out of." Stocked next to whiskey is tequila, because "a lot of whiskey drinkers are also tequila drinkers, they just don't know it yet," TJ laughs. The Urban Grape also stocks and organizes other spirits in progressive setups, including pre- mium rum, sake, gin, bitters and liqueur. TASTING PROMOTIONS Urban Grape emphasizes its in-store tastings, which take place three times per week. A large wooden table dominates one end of the South End store, with window seats and pil- lows set up for customers to relax with their wine, beer or spirit samples. "This gives people the opportunity to walk into our store learn about new products with no pressure to buy," TJ says. The South End store attracts many walk-ins, since it's lo- cated in a high-traffi c pedestrian area. Pets are allowed in The Urban Grape, as well. The free tastings are held every Thursday, Friday and Sat- urday. When reps or creators sample their products in the South End location, the store asks them so sign a backroom door. Signatures and messages now stretch across this door from top to bottom, representing everyone from industry greats to up-and-comers. This literal wall of comments from the store's many con- nections is symbolic of a company that effectively blends pro- gressive strategies with traditional service and hospitality. BD

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