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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The 21,000-square-foot Van's serves as a destination store for shoppers encompassing a wide- ranging demographic area. "My business had peaked and it's tough to stay on top of the ladder once you've gotten up there," he says. "So I ended up walking out of one door and into another one." And he wasn't alone. A few months after taking over Van's, Ron called his friend and col- league from Jansen Beverage, Glen "Bart" Bartelme. Bartelme was promoted to general manager of the distributor when it was sold, but when Jansen told him he needed help running Van's, he didn't hesitate to join him. "I told Bart there was a job for him at Van's if he was interested," Jansen says. "He thought about it for about 30 seconds, quit the beverage company, came to work for me and has been here ever since." Modernizing the Store oday Van's occupies a much larger store in a dif- ferent part of town and Ron has semi-retired from the business, but the name still represents wide selection and friendly service throughout the Dubuque area. Bartelme and Ron's son Jeff handle the day-to-day operations of Van's, which boasts a 21,000 square-foot building with a 7,000 square-foot sales floor. The store T also hosts two annual wine tastings attended by more than 250 people. The original store's sales were one-third lottery, one-third tobacco and one-third everything else. Jeff notes that's not where a business should be from a profitability standpoint, which is why his father quickly shifted the store's focus to more liquor and wine. Today spirits, wine and beer make up 30%, 15% and 18% of sales, respectively. Tobacco makes up about 22% of the store's business, but Ron notes that Illinois recently raised its tobacco tax, which will probably impact sales. "Our biggest sellers today are Black Velvet 1.75 liter for spirits and Busch Light 30-packs for beer," Jeff says. "We'll sell 2,000 cases and 30,000 packs of those over the course of a year." While the original Van's sold a very limited selection of wines, in its current incarnation the store is known as "The Tri-State Wine Specialist." "We pride ourselves in carrying things customers won't find at the grocery or warehouse store, so selec- tion is really our advantage," Jeff Jansen says. His father concurs. "Van's has a reputation for product selection," he says. "I always say if it's not available at Van's, it's not available period. Even if we only sell a case a year of a particular wine or liquor, we carry it to build up that reputation." The store's reputation helps draw customers not only from the surrounding Illinois area but also from nearly Iowa and Wisconsin. Van's also maintains a reputation for personal service, going far beyond the big box stores. "We have people working here who carry products out to people's cars for them," Bartelme says. "That's not something you see any- more and people really like that personal touch, especially in a small town." He adds that if a checkout line is more than three people deep, another lane is immediately opened so customers don't have to wait to pay. 34 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • July/August 2012