Recession should have flushed out amateur indies

Recreational independent merchants have been slammed by a fellow retailer who said that he wishes the global recession had been “nastier to flush these people out”.

Award-winning retailer Simon Taylor of Stone, Vine & Sun in Hampshire added that the independent sector in the UK has become “clogged up by amateurs”.

Speaking at his company’s Winter Wine Tasting in London last week, Taylor added: “These people just come out of the City and think ‘Ooh, I know, I’ll just set up a wine business, won’t that be fun?’ which is irritating as the sector’s getting clogged up by amateurs.”

Taylor continued that the emergence of this new breed of independent merchants has probably put more pressure on his company during the global recession than that of larger merchants such as Oddbins and Waitrose, both of whom recently told the drinks business that their point of difference includes the ability to offer wines from smaller producers.

Speaking at Oddbins’ Winter Wine Tasting last week, managing director Simon Baile said: “We’ve moved away from cheap brands but at the same time we’re giving customers some authenticity and interest in their wines.

“If a producer only has 1,200 bottles it’s not ideal, but we would take it and, for example, maybe give stores a couple of bottles each.

"We’re pretty flexible with what we can do and now we’re really showing people what can be done at Oddbins,” he added.

Meanwhile, two weeks ago, Andrew Shaw, buying manager for Waitrose, (and a former employee at Stone, Vine & Sun) said that the supermarket was keen on “scaling back on brands”.

Jane Parkinson, 08.11.2010