NEWS
GUESS WHICH CITY HAS ASIA’S BIGGEST WINE AND SPIRITS STORE
By Siulan Law Mathews DipWSET
24-7-2019
With close to 1,000 labels of wines and spirits on display spanning some 25,000 square feet of shop space, the newly opened Tonique store in the southern Indian city of Bangalore is Asia’s biggest wine shop, according to local media.
Owned by Indian entrepreneur Anith Reddy, this is Tonique’s third store after they opened two stores in nearby city Hyderabad three years ago.
This new megastore aims at providing customers with a unique experience when shopping for wine and spirits.
“We want to educate our customers. The store will be more like a museum which will have close to 1,000 labels of wines and hard liquors. It would take close to 45 minutes for a customer to browse through our collection at the store,” Reddy was quoted by local media as saying.
Reddy said Tonique represents luxury. “Name any country, we will have liquor from that place. Also, our staff is well trained. They are from hotel management background and know everything about the liquor including its history. We will have a staff of 30 on the floor, guiding customers,” he was quoted as saying.
The cheapest bottle in this store is about Rs 500, while the costliest bottle is a Chateau Petrus Pomerol with a price tag close to Rs 390,000.
Indian women may feel uncomfortable when shopping for alcohol in other retail stores, but in the safe environment provided by the Tonique store with female guards and valet parking, wine-loving female customers can have peace of mind when browsing through the labels.
It is said that several other Tonique outlets are in the pipeline. The company is planning to open six smaller format stores in Bangalore later this year. With floor area between 3,000 to 5,000 sq ft, these shops will be called Q by Tonique. The company is also planning to expand to Mumbai and Delhi at a later stage.
(the writer can be contacted at: SLawMathews@thewinechronicle.com)
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