Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
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Market Profi le 24 Beverage Dynamics • July/August 2017 www.beveragedynamics.com Dean's employees get a 401(K) and two-thirds of their health insurance paid, and there's a bonus program for every em- ployee in the store. "We're not GM or Toy- ota," he says, "but we want to compensate them fairly for the job they do." Boulder has more than 400 active nonprofi t orga- nizations, one of the densest in the nation, which gives Hazel's plenty of opportunity to donate product or gift certifi cates to area events; the University of Colorado is one of its main recipients (founder Bruce Dierking is a CU alum). "We meet every Friday and review all requests," Dean says, adding that he prefers to donate product rather than cash. The donation has the highest likelihood of creating a customer, Dean says, if someone has to enter his store to redeem the prize, such as a wine of the month for a year. IT'S ALL ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE When it comes to running his business, Carlson says he has a shopping environment people look forward to coming to. "Any- body can buy these products for what I pay, and sell them for what I sell them for," he says. "The differentiation is having a store people like to come to and that's easy for them to shop in. Our team builds a relationship with those customers." Carlson deals with turnover like anyone else in retail and says he too tends not to hire students, favoring people who want to work four or fi ve shifts a week. He has 10 full-time employees and advertises everywhere from newspaper ads to boosted posts on Facebook. "I also hired a guy to put door hangers in a nearby neighborhood," he says, "but I'd say what works best is word-of-mouth and tar- geted marketing." While Hazel's offers a mobile-opti- mized app, free delivery and a popular Super Sunday Sale, Dean says retail liquor is "a challenge every day." His competitors are numerous: thirty-two liquor stores within Boulder city limits alone. "Our suppliers tell us we are the third-highest volume store in the state "ODELLS AND NEW BELGIUM SELL GREAT BECAUSE THEY'RE BOTH IN OUR BACKYARD, AND THERE IS LITERALLY A NEW CRAFT BREWERY OPENING ON EVERY CORNER." —MAT DINSMORE, WILBUR'S TOTAL BEVERAGE GENERAL MANAGER "OUR SUPPLIERS TELL US WE ARE THE THIRD- HIGHEST VOLUME STORE IN THE STATE BEHIND APPLEJACK AND ARGONAUT." —JIM DEAN, OWNER HAZEL'S BEVERAGE WORLD