The hybrid question still divides the independent trade

“Serving wines by the glass, and bottle, enables us to encourage customers to experiment outside their comfort zone, often resulting in a sale of that product. It also helps the bottom line as the margin is much healthier.”

Jane Cuthbertson, Barrica in the Park, Chorley

“We introduced a tasting lounge this year. We have a targeted and unique by-the-glass list which changes on a four-weekly basis. This has driven incremental by-the-bottle sales.”

Ray Nicholls, Ripponden Wine Co, North Yorkshire

“We think hybrid stores are incredibly tricky to get right and not end up compromising either the on or offtrade. This is why we have decided to open our own bar.”

Graeme Woodward, Grape Minds, Oxfordshire

“We need our bar sales and the ticketed events we hold in the bar to make the business viable. Our outdoor seating in the summer months in particular is a major income generator.”

Kat Stead, Brigitte Bordeaux, Nottingham

“It was never in our business plan to offer drink-in on a regular basis. However in the current climate it feels like the only option to keep the business going. We have a very small area, but we hope this will allow us to reconnect with customers and will make it much easier to hold events on the premises.”

Tom Flint, Bottle & Jug Dept, Worthing

“The hybrid model is vital in a small town. Without drink-in sales, we wouldn’t still be in business. Retail sales are slower, with competition from Majestic, the supermarkets and online businesses, but we don’t have much competition in our space for on-sales.”

Derek Crookes, Kernowine, Falmouth

“We have dabbled with hybrid model events and discovered that we’re all a bit long in the tooth to be running around and waiting on tables. New and younger staff would be an essential part of taking this model forward.”

North Yorkshire merchant

“We seem to become the community drop-in centre for lonely drinkers so it’s very exhausting combining on and off-sales.”

West London merchant

“We’ve configured our second store to be able to adapt to a more hybrid model later in the evening and we’ll think about implementing a trial of this with a more structured wine flight, rather than a pick-a-bottle-off-theshelf approach, perhaps later in the year.”

Jefferson Boss, StarmoreBoss, Sheffield

“We had plans to open the drink-in facility in 2022. However, we really struggled to find reliable staff to make this viable.”

Wiltshire merchant

“We sell a range of wines by the glass, mostly on tap, which allows us to reduce our environmental impact as well as our wastage. This also helps to keep prices down while maintaining a very good margin. We also like to open something different from our retail shelves throughout the week. Not only is this useful at converting to bottle sales, but it allows the staff to try something new and learn about the different styles we have available.”

Holly Willcocks, Half Cut Market, north London

Which countries or regions do you find most interesting?

Italy tops the independent

First, a disclaimer. If we treated France as a single entity, rather than a collection of separate regions, it would easily top both our polls. Across the independent trade as a whole, French wine is still setting the standards that others strive to emulate.

Respondents were allowed unlimited choices, all of which were given equal weighting

Are independents growing – or retrenching?

But it’s clear that merchants are impressed by what they’re discovering in other countries, especially Italy, which just

We’ve simplified the graph to combine respondents who described each of the three scenarios as either “very likely” or “fairly likely”.

We also asked about staff. 15% of respondents said they are very likely to take on additional employees in the coming year, with 31% saying this was fairly likely. None of our 186 respondents said that reducing staff numbers was very likely, and just 3% said it was fairly likely.

When we suggested the possibility of diversifying into new areas beyond drinks, 4% said this was very likely, while 11% said it was fairly likely.

Independent Charts

edges Portugal off the top spot in our “most interesting” chart on the left.

Our sales chart, on the right, is unchanged at the top but, a little further down, Portugal and South Africa will be pleased to see the enthusiasm they receive from indies translating into increased sales.

It’s a different story for New Zealand, whose share of the vote has halved since last year’s survey.

Which countries or regions are your biggest sellers?

Respondents were allowed up to three choices, all of which were given equal weighting

Are independents likely to expand their ranges?

Based on 218 responses

Given the economic climate and the general challenges facing the trade, it’s no real surprise that the proportion of independent merchants who think the time is right to grow their wine range is below what we saw in the 2021 and 2022 surveys.

But the fact remains that almost six out of 10 indies are thinking about stocking more wines than they did last year, with 16% saying this scenario is very likely, and 41% describing it as fairly likely.

Only one respondent said that a range reduction was very likely, with 9% saying this was fairly likely.

Based