Oliver’s Wines is partnering with Tony Leon to launch its first physical store in Melbourne’s inner suburbs, with plans to expand to Sydney and Brisbane.
After operating solely online for over a year, the brand aims to establish brick-and-mortar locations linked to its digital platform.
Leon, Dan Murphy’s co-founder and former Coles Liquor boss, is known for growing Dan Murphy’s from a single store to 88, and is expected to bring extensive experience to the venture.
“A high-profile bricks and mortar presence can drive sales via our online platform in a way that is too hard to deliver when purely online,” said Jeremy Oliver, wine critic and founder of Oliver’s Wines, while noting that he has yet to find the exact location for the first store.
“But a physical multi-purpose operation featuring a wine bar plus event and education spaces will greatly help us create and nurture customer relationships. Visitors to our stores will discover our unique brand story and experience the depth and truly personalised nature of our online/offline presence,” he added.
Oliver and Leon believe it is the perfect time to offer a wide range of quality wines from both well-known and smaller producers while focusing on great customer service, engagement, and experience.
“The major retailers are cutting back to smaller ranges of core products from major brands, while the smaller independents are struggling to create a point of difference. So our timing couldn’t be better. We can fill this niche and we have a story to tell,” said Leon.
Australia’s wine retail sector is facing significant change with small, independent liquor stores declining in major cities, and even large retailers are also under pressure.
Endeavour Group, owner of Dan Murphy’s, BWS, and several hotels, has seen its share price drop 25 per cent in the past year.
Meanwhile, Coles Liquor is consolidating its 984 stores under the Liquorland brand, which is reportedly about to reduce product range and choice.
“This creates massive opportunities for those like us who don’t believe that’s what enthusiastic wine drinkers want, whatever their level of knowledge. We can do things at a store level that are too hard for the big guys and too challenging for most of the smaller ones,” said Oliver.
“Tony tells everyone how old he is, but he looks as fresh and as engaged as ever I can remember him. He loves developing retail brands in Australian liquor and to be honest there’s nobody I’d prefer to handle our commercial operations. And it’s a quirky thing we both had our starts in this industry working for Dan Murphy himself.”