RANKED AT THE TOP
Last month we counted down the top five retailers on our Top 100 list , culminating in the Retailer of the Year award for Twin Liquors .
Here , you can read more about the other four retailers in that elite group who were chosen as the best retailers in the country for their overall business practices , based on the information they submitted in their Top 100 applications ..
# 2 RETAILER :
Gary ’ s Wine & Marketplace
Headquarters : North Wayne , NJ Founded : 1987 # of Locations : 5 Average Size : 12,000 square feet
GARY ’ S FLAGSHIP LOCATION in Wayne includes its corporate offices and online business , as well as one of the largest gourmet departments in the country . Customers enjoy a wide selection of cheeses and meats , plus tastings at the store ’ s wine bar and a selection of thousands of SKUs .
During the last year , the store launched a “ Direct to Gary ’ s ” initiative , which offers customers a 10 % discount when they purchase six or more of 300-plus private label wines . The company also rolled out a mobile app to increase delivery orders and engage with younger customers . And it recently added Power BI , a reporting tool integrated with the point-of-sale system that provides robust reports about each location . Just two
READ MORE : A full profile of Gary ’ s is available in the March / April 2018 issue of Beverage Dynamics , which can be found at BeverageDynamics . com / digital-archives .
weeks before Christmas last year , Gary ’ s opened its fifth location in Closter , NJ .
In terms of product mix , wine makes up 65 % of sales , with spirits at 15 % and beer at 12 %. The remaining 8 % comes from non-alcohol products .
Benefits of Gary ’ s customer loyalty program include members-only coupons and access to an individualized portfolio that shows shopping history . That ’ s part of the “ Gary ’ s Experience ” that the company cultivates , in-person and online .
What sets the company apart ? “ Attention to detail and time spend on learning about guests ’ wants and needs . Investing time and money in education for staff and being comfortable saying you can ’ t find a team anywhere with the knowledge our team offers . Most companies say the customer is their top priority , where at Gary ’ s we show it .”
Gary ’ s was the Beverage Dynamics Retailer of the Year in 2012 and one of our Retailers of the Year in 2018 . Owner Gary Fisch is currently the president of the Wine & Spirits Guild and a member of the Taster ’ s Guild of New Jersey .
www . beveragedynamics . com Top 100 Supplement • Beverage Dynamics 11