Page 17 - BusinessWest February 6, 2023
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 “How people shop for wine has changed, and who is shopping for wine has changed. There are more young people interested in wine these days than when we first opened.”
contemplating additional expansion at this time, and are instead focused on settling in — in every aspect of that phrase.
Elaborating, they said they want to put their new locations on solid ground, build the brand, and, well ... keep doing what they’ve been doing all along.
Specifically, this means listening to customers, responding to what they’re saying, and providing an overall product that is in many ways as distinctive as the various bottles and cheeses on the shelves.
“One of the important traits we’ve shown over the years is being responsive to what we’re facing. Whether it’s having to reshape everything because of the pandemic or with growth, it’s a matter of staying aware and staying flexible, and leaning into opportunities,” said Hyde, adding that this operating mindset has served the part- ners well to date, and it will continue.
“The focus is going to be less on expanding our footprint in the near term, and more on expanding services and making connec- tions within the community,” he went on. “What’s important to both of us is that we not only have a good business, but our business is part of the community; we support our community, and our commu- nity supports us.”
Meanwhile, the partners plan to continue with that theme of pro- viding not just fine wine — they do that as well — but also ‘fun’ wine and products with compelling stories.
And while doing so — and this is perhaps the most rewarding part — they’ve earned the trust of customers.
“That’s been a cool thing — developing those relationships, get- ting to know people’s palates, and building that trust,” Hyde said. “People will call up and say, ‘I trust you ... pick out 12 bottles for me, and I’ll come pick it up.”
That’s an example of that flexibility he described, and being responsive to what a changing audience wants and needs in a bottle of wine and the store that will sell it.
“How people shop for wine has changed, and who is shopping for wine has changed,” he expained. “There are more young people interested in wine these days than when we first opened.”
McAmis agreed. “They’re younger, and they’re interested in
Wine tastings, such as this one at the location in the Mill District in North Amherst, are one way the company focuses on education and engaging its customers.
learning about the products; it doesn’t have to be a lot of money, but there’s an emphasis on quality, not quantity,” he noted. “We have wines that come from family-owned estates and are natural or bio- dynamic, organic or sustainably grown — these are all important attributes for a lot of these younger consumers.”
 These attributes and others are explained at the wine classes staged at
Provisions
Continued on page 39
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