The new Grapevine is heading to your mailbox soon. In the meantime, we’ve listed all the new wines here in our Spotlight section. Dig in now.
LOOKING FORWARD
I would like to thank all of you for helping us to grow, substantially, in 2004. I calculated that we lost almost $65,000 in sales in August and September due to the hurricanes. Despite that setback we still grew overall sales by over $300,000 dollars in 2004, an increase of almost 15% over 2003. Our growth is only possible due to the enthusiasm that you, our customers, share in our business and your confidence to recommend us to your friends. On behalf of my family and staff, we wish all of you the best in 2005 and we look forward to sharing many great wines with you this year.
WESTWARD HO!
I am excited to announce that I have signed another lease for a second location. Before all of our customers in the Dr. Phillips area begin popping corks (ha, ha) let me say I have decided to go way west, all the way to Lakeland. There are a number of reasons why I chose this area that I won’t bother you with now, but suffice to say I need to get moving on expansion and there is no available space that will work in the Dr. Phillips area. It is worth saying that I have not given up on Dr. Phillips and I still intend to open a store in your area in the next couple of years. With so many new projects waiting, I simply could not delay opening another outlet any longer. I will give you more details as we move closer to an opening date, although it looks like we should have our doors open by April 1st.
DR. PHILLIPS DELIVERY
If the last paragraph was a disappointment to you, let me put a silver lining around the rain cloud. I will be commuting to Lakeland every Wednesday and will have to pass through the Dr. Phillips area to get there. For that reason I can announce a free delivery service to the Dr. Phillips area each week, starting now, for orders of $100 or one case of wine, or more. The deadline for orders is 5 pm Tuesday for deliveries for that week. It is impossible to guarantee a specific time for delivery so if you live in a gated community you will need to make arrangements for us to get in and leave the wine.
NEW YEAR, NEW LOOK, NEW LAYOUT
By the time you read this and come in to buy wine you will notice a new look to TWM. The store is getting a fresh coat of paint and a new layout (again) as we move toward a goal I have wanted to implement for a long time. Over the next couple of months we will be shifting inventory away from the classic, grape variety layout we have now, like all the Chardonnay’s together, and moving to what is called in the restaurant business, a “progressive layout.” This means the wines will be grouped according to how they drink. For example, the full bodied wines will now be grouped together, regardless of whether it is Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah or some other new varietal. I am doing this because the world of wine is growing so quickly that many great wines get lost in the shuffle because they don’t fit the traditional way our store is arranged. Never fear, we will still have all of our staff on hand to help you and all the old favorites will remain in stock. Hopefully, with the new arrangement we will be able to introduce you to many new wines that will also become favorites in your house.