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All retailing is local. That might not quite have the ring of truth of the words of the late Speaker of the House Tip O’Neil, but it makes just as much sense.
In the case of the Southeast’s Green’s Discount Beverages, what’s local changes dramatically from store to store. With units in two states (Georgia and South Carolina), separated by as much as 360 miles, it’s not a surprise that each store has a different market position and client base. For instance, at the chain’s Atlanta store in the booming Poncey Highland section of town, the wine manager keeps tabs on the annual Burgundy and Bordeaux market and has established a robust international wine selection.
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Lock Reddic, President and
Suzie Riga, Vice President |
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But meanwhile, over in Green’s warehouse unit in Columbia, SC, the large footprint market sells only beer and mostly lower-priced California wine in unusual contrast to the entire chain’s overall spirits sales, which comprise more than 50% of the business.
Each store, then, is calibrated to make sense for local customers, says Green’s president Lock Reddic. “We’ve always targeted our audience and their needs and never tried to take them somewhere; we just try to be the best for what we know they want,” he says, pointing out that the differences depend specifically on those unit locations.
“We’re in small town America and a big city, and we wouldn’t really know the differences if we didn’t operate in both. But as a result it gives us a bit of an advantage, a chance to develop relationships with both high-end and volume suppliers,” he says.
Green’s six stores include two in Atlanta - the afore mentioned 8,500-square-foot Poncey unit and the chain’s original 7,500-square-foot establishment; two in Columbia in the center of South Carolina - a 13,000-square-foot store, and the 16,000-square-foot warehouse; a 12,000-square-foot store in Greenville, in northwest SC; and a 7,500-square-foot store in one of the country’s best-known Atlantic coast playgrounds, Myrtle Beach, SC.
Article courtesy of BeverageDynamics.com. |
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