Cardiff's The Bottle Shop eyes expansion

By Gemma McKenna

Published: 28 January, 2015

Cardiff-based independent wine retailer David Williams of The Bottle Shop is planning to open up to four stores in the city over the next four years.

The Bottle Shop's latest opening in Penarth, Cardiff The Bottle Shop's latest opening in Penarth, CardiffOwner David Williams wants to double in size over the next four years to four stores, all within the city.

Williams currently runs two shops - the second opened in May 2014, and has ambitions to open a further two neighbourhood outlets across the city, which would be self-funded through the business.

The first site opened over three years ago, and trades strongly in regional "non-classic" French appellations, as well as Sicily and Chile. Chile has proved a strong suit for the second store following a Wines of Chile promotion last year, which raised his Chilean sales disproportionately and led Williams to keep on a host of Chilean producers.

Williams says the core wine range is priced from £8 to £15, with £10 the average bottle price, and the average transaction coming in at £16-17. It lists 350 to 500 wines and more than 200 beers, which make up 20% of turnover.

"We put a lot of effort into the wines we stock, and try and engage with customers as much as possible. We're not snobby or snooty or stuck up. We're a bunch of guys aged under 26 and we don't take ourselves too seriously."

Williams told Harpers.co.uk he welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with other local wine merchants, and has worked together with some already to ship wine directly, but still ships the majority of his wines through agencies.

Online retail is not part of his business plan - "we just wanted to look after our local area. I've run pubs before with a community focus and wanted to do that through the shop". He said the majority of his customers live within a long walk or short drive of the premises.

"Online sees everyone competing on price, and that's something we try not to do. We're competitive but we don't want to get drawn into a price war," he said. Williams would rather that customers come in as he doesn't want to lose the personal "interaction", but the stores are strong on social media and he plans to make that "more structured" over the coming months.

Harpers is running a series of articles and special features over the course of the next month in the run-yup to our inaugural March for Independents conference. Find out how you can get involved or get in touch and let us know about how your business is faring. Email Gemma McKenna or tweet via @harperswine.

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