Millwork dealers sparkle as wine cellar sellers

By Mark Karpinski

IIfINE cellars were once thought Y Y of as a product and service provided exclusively to the rich and famous. Today, nearly one of every five new homes has some form of wine racking or wine cellar, and countless existing homes are being renovated in order to devote a space to wine storage.

Wine racking manufacturing is a growing, $5O0-million industry, providing wine racking for residential, hospitality, and retail bar and beverage clientele. Building material and product supply centers are now beginning to stand up and take notice of the potential revenue boost that selling wine cellars and their associated building materials can add to their bottom line.

According to dealers and installers for wine racking manufacturer WineRacks.com, customers are recognizing the affordability of wine cellars, whether it is in a renovation in an existing closet space or a full wine cellar room. Wine cellar projects can run anywhere from small, $2000 renovations to showroom quality, 2,000bottle, wine cellar projects in excess of $25.000.

Not only are building material centers capitalizing on the sale of the wine racking itself, they are able to generate thousands of dollars in sales of the building materials and products involved in the project. Materials and products such as framing lumber, greenboard, insulation, vapor banier, fasteners, wall coverings, custom cellar doors, and flooring are just some of the products that the retailer will profit on.

INTOXICATING NICHE: Wine racking and cellar projects are sweet matches for building material dealers.

It is possible for LBM dealers to install an attractive showroom display at little to no cost that will allow their customers to more fully visualize what a finished wine cellar might look like in their own home. Much like kitchen cabinet retailers, the software technology exists to help home center sales staffs create 3-D cellar designs with the customers, right in their showroom. Reputable wine cellar designers and manufacturers can provide the proper customer consultation and cellar design software training to your staff, as well as full room buildout and cellar installation instructions and tips.

In addition to the sale of the wine cellar racking and required building materials, the dealers are either handling the room build-out and cellar installation through their subcontractors, or they are cultivating new business relationships with the client's current contractor or builder. Those relationships lead to long-term sales and profits.

In today's market, you can't afford to ignore a fast growing segment of the building industry. With the growing popularity of wine appreciation and proper wine storage, your future customers could be waiting for you to be marketing, designing and installing the wine cellar of their dreams. Perhaps it's time to uncork this revenue potential by contacting an experienced wine cellar designer and manufacturer today.

- Mark Karpinski is the director of sales for WineRacks.com and can be reached at mkarpinski@ wineracks.com or ( 5 I 8) 773-4094