We Visit BevMo! and Save $17

Obviously, I wasn’t going to purchase any wine there (I didn’t even check the wine aisles. . .I’ll save that for another visit). And while I seldom drink distilled spirits, I thought I’d spend at least $30 to qualify to use the $10 coupon.

The store was busy but not crowded (the 200, $25 gift cards given away to promote the grand opening were distributed instantly on Friday morning. . .I was there on Sunday afternoon) and customers were purchasing mainly beer. I scouted the booze aisles and purchased a 750 ml bottle of Bushmill’s Irish Whiskey for $20.99 and a 1.75 liter bottle of Seagram’s Seven for $14.99. When I got to the checkout counter, the clerk didn’t even blink when I told him that Rite-Aid had the Bushmill’s for $14.99 and the Seagram’s for $13.99. The total cost of my purchase was $36 plus tax, but I paid just $19 and tax because of the $7 write-off to match Rite-Aid and the $10 discount coupon. All of this means two things: BevMo! lost its butt on my transaction and the company is prepared to make an investment to win over new customers by taking a loss up front.

With full-pages ads and supplements running regularly in the SacBee and the Journal, there are tons of $10 BevMo! coupons floating around the community. My hope is that everyone visits the new store and cashes in the coupons.

If BevMo!’s strategy is to buy its way into this market, I hope it hurts like hell.

My impression of the place is it is much like any other box store. . .well stocked with lots of cheap booze and beer, clean (it is brand new) and most of the staff members are standing behind cash registers or stocking refrigerators. While I surely did not get the sense that prices were significantly discounted, BevMo! did stand behind its pledge of matching competitors.

“No Country for Wine Discounters” Video Now Online

More than 700 people have viewed our new video, "No Country for Wine Discounters." If you haven't, just click here (it's just four minutes long and it will blow you away).

Carpe Vino’s latest video is titled “No Country for Wine Discounters,” (get it?) and you can see it by clicking here. Running less than five minutes, this one is really a hoot. . .no kidding. The premise is Drew and I take off for the afternoon to do some father-and-son bonding by knocking down some clays. On the ride out to the Auburn Trap Club, Drew lets me know he is worried about a new competitor that has opened in Roseville, a wine superstore offering 8,000 different selections. The chain it is part of is comprised of 47 stores on the east coast, and this is its first entry in California.

I let him know that I’m concerned, too, but I describe for him how we are different and why people love our joint. Then Drew talks about a new wine we are offering, 12 Gauge Cabernet Sauvignon, an exceptional value from the makers of Livingston-Moffett in Napa Valley (see more about the wine below). Actually, the original reason for shooting the video was to promote 12 Gauge Cab with the obvious tie-in to trap shooting.

We had a blast doing this (no pun intended), and it is a very entertaining and funny presentation, if I don’t say so myself. Trent Moffett, one of the owners of Gauge Wines, agreed in an email he sent to me after seeing a preview of the show: “I just watched it again and I must say IT”S AWESOME!! I’m proud to be a MoffETT…. You guys rock, I can’t wait to share a glass of wine. I leave Sunday for Texas, but when I get back I would like to schedule a meeting / gathering.”

No question, this video has a bit of an edge to it, but I think everyone will love it. . .except, perhaps, attorneys for Total Wine & More, our new wine colleague down the hill. We expect to hear from them, so watch this now before Sheriff Bonner shows up with the “cease-and-desist” order.

Click here to view the video >

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