Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/764739
w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m J a n - F e b 2 017 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 1 3 hat happens when Spec's Wine, Spir- its & Finer Foods, the leading inde- pendent liquor retailer in Texas with some 180 stores and a three-decade history, finds itself battling Total Wine & More, the first liquor retailer that's made seri- ous inroads going national? Cheap beer, wine and spir- its prices, often below cost; lots and lots of media ink; and the sense that something no one has ever seen before is happen- ing in Texas. "The best thing I c a n t h i n k o f t o compare it to is Apple and Microsoft in the 1990s," says David Lei, associate professor of strate- gy at the SMU Cox School of Business in Dallas. "These are two companies that just don't like each other." Total Wine has encountered fierce opposition almost from the day it started opening in new states. Every time it wanted to expand, it seemed like someone — often the local pack- age store trade association — sued to stop it or threw up obstacles in the state legislature. Two of those legal challenges came in Texas, including the Texas Package Store Association's lawsuit to stop Total Wine from open- ing. And the chains have been compet- ing in Dallas and Austin for more than a year, where they even have stores almost next to each other and have engaged in what each company agrees is a price war with little precedent any- where in the country. But the rivalry became even more intense when Total Wine opened its first store in Houston last fall, the city where Spec's started 54 years ago and its 80,000-square-foot flagship is a downtown landmark. Maryland- based Total Wine, with 147 stores in 19 states, plans to open a couple more in the Houston area this year, and has targeted Texas for what it sees as one of the best markets for its format in the country. "The thing to understand is that this means the days of the old gentleman's Total Wine Continues Moving Onto Spec's Texas Turf agreement, where everyone agreed not to go into someone else's market, are finally and officially over," says Matt McGinnis, president of the Austin-based Pen & Tell Us, which does a variety of liquor-related marketing. "They don't apply to an out-of- state retailer like Total Wine." In all of this, says Lei, is the knowl- edge that liquor retailing is becoming a m a t u r e b u s i n e s s i n the state. Texas, once some two-thirds dry, is mostly wet after the last Prohibition-era bas- tions in Lubbock and Dallas County voted to allow retail wine and beer sales in the past couple of years. That means consumers, who were once able to buy wine only NEWS FLASH Family Winemakers and WineAmerica Revise Program Family Winemakers of California, which focuses primarily on state-level issues, and WineAmerica, which focuses on federal policy in Washington, D.C., have announced a revised joint membership program that lets wineries support, get information from and be represented by both organizations. The revisions are intended to make the program more affordable and attractive. John Anthony Family of Wines Adds to National Sales Team John Anthony Family of Wines has hired Art Pinn, Kerry Guilfoyle and Bill Stevens for its national sales team. Pinn and Guilfoyle come on board as regional sales directors, leading their teams in the Western and Eastern United States, respectively. Stevens has been added to the team as director of national accounts, off-premise. Michael Gelardi Joins Hershner Hunter, LLP Michael Gelardi has joined the law firm Hershner Hunter, LLP, based in Eugene, Ore. His practice focuses on agribusiness, land use and natural resources law in Oregon and Washington. He was previously at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, where he handled complex land and water management projects and was part of a nationally recognized food and beverage law team. AgHires Launches Redesigned Job Board AgHires (www.aghires.com) has launched its redesigned job board and website, which offers a more robust experience whether users are posting a job, searching for a job or just exploring the world of agriculture. The site offers a more sophisti- cated searching algorithm, job alerts, job recommendations, news, blogs and more. For more industry news briefs, visit the News Flash page on V&WM's website: http://www.vwmmedia.com/magazine/web-exclusive1.asp. " 1- BY JEFF SIEGEL Spec's vs. Total Wine