Advice solicited

[Zinner]

Good luck on your shop.

I'd agree with Foodie about the warmth and attitude. We had one shop fail in our town. I'd meet consumers who went to their tastings and ask them what they thought. All of them thought the shop was beautiful and stylish, but a bit cold.

Two shops in the same area that provide friendlier service are still going strong. If you can make your customers feel good about their purchases, you can succeed, I'd bet.

One shop here does a food thing that's quite a lot of fun. Perhaps three times a year, they'll have customer cook-offs. The customer brings in a special dish (planned ahead of time) with maybe a half dozen folks competing. The shop matches wines with the dishes and the customers taste and vote for their favorite. All the cooks get a bottle of wine for participating, but the winner gets something really nice, often a magnum. Competition is fierce.

Would you like me to send you one of my favorite wine stories? I am not the author, but wish I were and it's set in a wine shop in Washington state. I can send it as a Word document, but didn't want to fire off an email with attachment without warning in case you'd think it spam.