| Are you looking for a nice bottle of wine to sup, | | | | number they had in the late 1980's early 90's. A |
| or the perfect accompaniment to that special | | | | very good off licence is now a very rare breed |
| meal? How about a lovely glass of red, to settle | | | | indeed. The expertise is often sorely lacking and |
| down next to the fire with on a cold winter | | | | even if you do find one with a proprietor that |
| evening? A quick trip to the off licence and all | | | | knows their stuff is that enough - again probably |
| these desires are met - or are they? | | | | not. The simple fact of the matter is they cannot |
| The fact is the answer could soon well be NO | | | | compete on price consistently. |
| purely because there just isn't one. Surely not, | | | | So what is the solution? There are a couple that |
| you may be saying, well let's look at the reasoning | | | | are worth considering, the supermarket being one. |
| behind it: | | | | But they too lack the certain something that |
| Firstly there is competition, there are more and | | | | allows you to enjoy the experience of selecting |
| more places that you can now sate your wine | | | | your wine as well as drinking it as you often have |
| passion other than the traditional "offie" The two | | | | to rush the process before the ice cream melts! |
| major threats come from the supermarket and | | | | You can overcome this, take your time and do |
| the online wine club. | | | | the whole process from the comfort of your |
| Secondly, cost. Small shops have less buying | | | | own home by joining one of the UK's many |
| power and in relation to their size, much greater | | | | excellent wine clubs or plans. The online wine club |
| costs per unit and hence have to charge more to | | | | gives the perfect balance of convenience, cost |
| make up the difference and make ends meet. | | | | savings and the experience that comes from the |
| Thirdly convenience. That's the funny thing about | | | | endless pool of knowledge that is the World Wide |
| your local off licence is that it often isn't that | | | | Web. No actual stores mean much lower |
| convenient. Leaving your home just to go out and | | | | overheads, a saving that they then pass straight |
| pick up one thing doesn't really tie in with many | | | | on to the consumer. But the fact they don't have |
| people's busy schedules these days. Picking up a | | | | actual shops doesn't mean that they are small fry. |
| bottle on the way home from work may suit, but | | | | Because the clubs reach across the globe they |
| not if you want more than one. It makes more | | | | have significant buying power and are able to |
| sense to pick up all the wine you need when you | | | | secure bulk deals with many wineries further |
| can put it in the trolley and then take it home in | | | | driving prices down. |
| the car with the rest of the shopping. Or even | | | | On top of all of this there are often introductory |
| better, not even leave the house at all - go online | | | | deals that many clubs offer to secure your |
| buy at a discounted rate and get the wine | | | | custom in the first place. The vast majority of |
| delivered straight to your door. | | | | traditional off licences have very tight margins |
| So what does an off licence offer? Well a good | | | | that they have to maintain, this is not the case |
| one is not just your average corner shop that | | | | with the online wine retailers. They can and do |
| happens to sell plonk, it will give you a variety | | | | offer "loss leading" deals that are in effect too |
| benefits. Such as a knowledgeable owner who can | | | | good to be (think back to Tesco selling sliced |
| help advise on the best wines for certain | | | | loaves at 14p) so that once they have got you |
| occasions / meals. They will also have a wider | | | | on board the quality of the wines and the service |
| range of some of the less well known or | | | | will keep you as a long term customer. |
| undiscovered gems that you won't find in a | | | | Finally there is the fact that you can take |
| supermarket, they will also be able to let you | | | | advantage of all these wonderful deals from the |
| know which of these is worth a try and which | | | | comfort of your own home. The way that the |
| you may want to give a miss. | | | | clubs operate couldn't be simpler - just select the |
| Are these factors enough to overcome the | | | | plan or deal that you like, pay the one off or |
| drawbacks though? Probably not and this can be | | | | subscription rate and hey presto the wine appears |
| seen in the fact the decline has already begun. | | | | at your door. So in the face of all this pressure |
| Unwins - one of the high street favourites closed | | | | that the off licence is facing it is safe to say that |
| in 2005 and Threshers have closed a goodly | | | | if it is not already dead it is certainly in its death |
| percentage of their stores compared to the | | | | throes. |