In the 18,000 square-foot Bristol, CT store, Michael Bradley, buyer for both Crazy Bruce's Liquors outlets and manager of the West Hartford operation, and June Curtin, manager of the Bristol store.
Crazy Like A Fox
By Jack Robertiello PHOTOGRAPHY BY AL FERREIRA
Crazy Bruce's Liquors, in Bristol and West Hartford, CT, runs on deals, value and loyalty.
infamous rules of life. Here's one worth adding to the list: "Never get in a retail battle with a man called Crazy." In this case, we're discussing Crazy Bruce, a name well known to Connecticut late-night television viewers and wine, beer and spirit shoppers. The original Bruce is long gone from ownership of the two stores that still bear his name, but his retail philosophy - built on loss leaders, frequent discounting and high volume - continues to
"N
ever play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom's." Those are two of novelist Nelson Algren's
drive sales at the current owner's two stores. Today, there are two Crazy Bruce's Liquors units: an 18,000 square feet superstore opened in 1984 in Bristol, Ct., known, among other things, as the largest seller of Anheuser Busch beers in the state; and a 15,000 square feet small shopping mall co-anchor in West Hartford that skews higher in wine sales. Both are advertising and deal-driven destination stores and high volume empori- ums, where frequent deep discounts based on supplier close-outs keep a steady flow of repeat customers who generally leave with an armful of bottles. While as a privately owned business Crazy Bruce's
42 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • March/April 2012
