Alcohol sales

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ash2792

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Aug 19, 2010
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  • #1
    I have identified a gap in the market in a particular area near where I live. I am currently in the process of planning to set up a small shop selling wine. Does anyone know how much an alcohol license will cost, and where to find out more information on it and how to obtain one?
     
    oldeagleeye

    oldeagleeye

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    Jul 16, 2008
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    Essex
  • #3
    Sorry OP. If you have identified a gap in your area and it is selling wine from a small shop you must have been on the pink gin when you did your research.

    No off-licence could survive on the sale of wine alone. Most will sell perhaps 2 -4 cases week and many owners will buy mixed cases at that. The fact is that most people buy from the supermarket these days with the weekly shop and you simply wouldn't be about to compete.

    Do you even know what the gross margin on a case of wine is. A bog standard white or red is about £12 _ £14 a case of 6 + VAT. Which incidentaly is going to be 20% after Xmas. Lets stick with todays prices however. £14 + £2.45 VAT = £16.45.

    Now you can buy 6 bottles of a better wine at a supermarket for £20 QUID RETAIL.

    That is £17 Ex Vat. WOW. Boy of boy are you going to get rich quick making 55p on a case of wine. Less than 10p a bottle.

    The situation gets even worse when you get to the more decent wines. Most of the suppermarks offer 50% off on a wide selection at under a fiver. This is the biggest market. You OP however would lose about £2.50 a bottle trying to match the supermarkets. and that is even if you didn't have any rent of staff to pay.

    Sorry Ash. This is a complete and utter no brainer. Best leave the Special Brew alone otherwise it will be pink elephants that you see next and possibly come up with the idea of breeding them.

    Rob
     
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    D

    Drpepper

  • #4
    Then again, specialist independent wine shops do work:-

    http://www.caviste.co.uk/

    Try a bottle of mid priced wine from these guys (say £9) and it'll be 100 times better than the mass produced tasteless rubbish the supermarkets sell as their premium brands at more money. Supermarkets simply, because of the quantities they require, can not sell the better wines that are our there.
     
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    oldeagleeye

    oldeagleeye

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  • #5
    Drpepper. Caviste is a highly professional business with time served buyers who can source and bottle at the vineyards and I might add in volume. They also have a highly sophisticated marketing strategy targeting the corporate sector with functions and own labels - wine clubs etc and can still just about compete with the supermakets on a decent range but only just.

    The OP on the other hand however can only buy at Cash & Carry like Bookers and by the case though I doubt he has the funds for even that.

    The bottom line then is that like so many we see in here this is just an idea. There is no gap in the market and the OP can't even have a biz plan. He certainly doesn't know the industry. Threashers with over 20 off-licences I believe - now gone out of business as have most chains.

    Virtually every corner grocery store has a wine & spirit licence but they couldn't survive on booze alone even working 16 hrs a day 7 days a week.

    This really ain't no eurecka moment for the OP then.

    Rob
     
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    D

    Drpepper

  • #8
    oldeagleeye said:
    Drpepper. Caviste is a highly professional business with time served buyers who can source and bottle at the vineyards and I might add in volume. They also have a highly sophisticated marketing strategy targeting the corporate sector with functions and own labels - wine clubs etc and can still just about compete with the supermakets on a decent range but only just.

    The OP on the other hand however can only buy at Cash & Carry like Bookers and by the case though I doubt he has the funds for even that.

    The bottom line then is that like so many we see in here this is just an idea. There is no gap in the market and the OP can't even have a biz plan. He certainly doesn't know the industry. Threashers with over 20 off-licences I believe - now gone out of business as have most chains.

    Virtually every corner grocery store has a wine & spirit licence but they couldn't survive on booze alone even working 16 hrs a day 7 days a week.

    This really ain't no eurecka moment for the OP then.

    Rob
    Click to expand...

    I agree you couldn't make money selling just wine purchased from a wholesaler. Thing is we do not know what the OP's planned set up or experience is, I was just pointing out that independents can and do succeed. Caviste purposefully don't even try to compete with the supermarkets - that is their USP.
     
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    E

    Esk247

  • #11
    Vision said:
    Theres an off licence opposite my shop who opens in the evenings delivering wine and beer etc, on a weekend he can make up to £3k just from this.. so he says

    Mark
    Click to expand...

    He might get 3k in cash but by the time he's paid for everything else he'll have a tiddly amount left.

    Relatives of mine owned a few bars/restaurants and as far as i know, all have been sold off due to the fact the profit margins have got so tiny.

    I don't understand how the drinks delivery system works..with ID and such..it's also rather risky driving around with a grands worth of drink in the back of your car.
     
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    J

    -Joe-

    Free Member
    May 18, 2010
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    Hemel Hempstead
  • #12
    oldeagleeye said:
    Sorry OP. If you have identified a gap in your area and it is selling wine from a small shop you must have been on the pink gin when you did your research.

    No off-licence could survive on the sale of wine alone. Most will sell perhaps 2 -4 cases week and many owners will buy mixed cases at that. The fact is that most people buy from the supermarket these days with the weekly shop and you simply wouldn't be about to compete.

    Do you even know what the gross margin on a case of wine is. A bog standard white or red is about £12 _ £14 a case of 6 + VAT. Which incidentaly is going to be 20% after Xmas. Lets stick with todays prices however. £14 + £2.45 VAT = £16.45.

    Now you can buy 6 bottles of a better wine at a supermarket for £20 QUID RETAIL.

    That is £17 Ex Vat. WOW. Boy of boy are you going to get rich quick making 55p on a case of wine. Less than 10p a bottle.

    The situation gets even worse when you get to the more decent wines. Most of the suppermarks offer 50% off on a wide selection at under a fiver. This is the biggest market. You OP however would lose about £2.50 a bottle trying to match the supermarkets. and that is even if you didn't have any rent of staff to pay.

    Sorry Ash. This is a complete and utter no brainer. Best leave the Special Brew alone otherwise it will be pink elephants that you see next and possibly come up with the idea of breeding them.

    Rob
    Click to expand...
    New niche? 2 litre bottles of grape juice mixed with a bit of cheap vodka, £3 a pop? :p
     
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    D

    Deleted member 84181

  • #16
    ash2792 said:
    I have identified a gap in the market in a particular area near where I live. I am currently in the process of planning to set up a small shop selling wine. Does anyone know how much an alcohol license will cost, and where to find out more information on it and how to obtain one?
    Click to expand...

    Nobody appears to have answered your original question about the cost of an alcohol licence. You would actually need 2 - A premises licence and a personal licence. Google "Alcohol Licence" or "Personal Licence Training" for more information.

    Hope this helps :)
     
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    oldeagleeye

    oldeagleeye

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    Jul 16, 2008
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  • #17
    We didn't answer the question Jeremy because the OP's opening remarks were that he had spotted a niche market yet he had not even carried out the very basic of research like the costs of licences.

    Those are the least of his worries. He simply hasn't got a clue what the trade is all about. All he seems to have done is spot a little shop with hardly any footfall and a cheap rent. There are 1000s of those boarded up all over the country. Most of them failed grocery and off licences.

    As for running a small specialist wine shop. A there isn't the market and B. I bet the guy doesn't even know the difference between a Cotes du Rhone and a Costa del Sol.

    I repeat this idea is a complete no brainer. Another case of pisssssing in the wind if he tries to carry it forward. Then again. Could it be that Dancing with Poodles is looking for an Apprentice. If so prime candidate.:eek:

    Rob
     
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    S

    Stuart Bailey

    Free Member
    Oct 29, 2010
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    WIndermere
  • #19
    The local authority provide the licence so i suggest you contact them. Also contact Business Link or Chamber of Commerce for advice.

    Ignore the earlier posts, if you've got the self belief and drive go for it.

    However to reduce your costs why dont you consider selling the wine on line then if you are successful you can open a shop.

    Stuart Bailey Thomas Guise solicitors​
     
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    oldeagleeye

    oldeagleeye

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    Jul 16, 2008
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  • #20
    Thomas Guise said:
    The local authority provide the licence so i suggest you contact them. Also contact Business Link or Chamber of Commerce for advice.

    Ignore the earlier posts, if you've got the self belief and drive go for it.

    However to reduce your costs why dont you consider selling the wine on line then if you are successful you can open a shop.

    Stuart Bailey Thomas Guise solicitors​
    Click to expand...


    Ignore the other posts. I am surprised Stuart that a professional man should offer such unprofessional and indeed quite stupid adivice.

    Believing in oneself doesn't hack it in any business unless you have viable business plan and the skills to implement it but even before then you need to open your eyes.

    The licensed trade in general is in the pits with pubs closing at the rateof a least one a day. Thousands and thousands of small grocery stores and off licences have closed over the last couple of years and boarded up they shout no longer needed or wanted.

    Why do you think that is. Why do you think on of Britains biggest office chain closed last year. The reason Threasers could not compete in the market and I might add even though selling a wide range of alcohol products and being about to buy in huge volume for the best discounts.

    Let me mark your card then as one that has been in the licenced trade. Punters don't buy cases of beer at off-licences today they buy from the supermarket because it is usually about half the price.

    Punters don't buy wine from small shops either or from off-licences for that matter for the same reason. Price. My friend has an offie one which is in a busy high street position. He is lucky if he sells 2 cases of plonk a week. That is 12 bottles. Gross Profit about £1.50 a bottle.

    As for your suggestion the OP go on-line. E-commerce shop circa £1,000 - £2,000 and do you really think that OP could possibly comptete with Tesco's wine club or any of the 1,000s of others already out there. There would even be enough in it to send a small case by post.

    All in all I really would stick to legal matters if I were you Stuart. Posting comments advising members to ignore advice from time served businessmen and women don't do your own credibility any good and is really somewhat irresponsible for professional man.

    Rob
     
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    D

    Drpepper

  • #22
    Thomas Guise said:

    However to reduce your costs why dont you consider selling the wine on line then if you are successful you can open a shop.

    Stuart Bailey Thomas Guise solicitors​
    Click to expand...

    Why do so many people think that selling online is an alternative to a High Street shop, even more so with the OP's venture? Online and High Street are two totally different beasts with different customers.

    Very very few business start online then move to the High Street (if that was the norm' there would be an Amazon on every street corner!), what does often happen is High Street also open online for a few extra sales.

    Cheaper? Get yourself a lease with a break at year one, in a shop that requires minimal shop fitting, and I reckon your start up costs won't be much, if any, more than getting a website up and running and driving customers to the site.

    And of course some people may just enjoy dealing with customers face to face rather than sitting behind a pc all day and packing boxes.
     
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