Caribbean Cellars launches spanking new wholesale/retail complex
General Manager, Dwaine Williams, explained that the newly constructed building was completed sometime around mid-December 2012. “We’ve been here for about thirty years which was spent down at Port Purcell,” Williams said, “but our business has grown exponentially and we’ve been looking for space to relocate.”
Construction of the building, owned by Mr Colin O’Neal, took approximately eight months.
Williams further related that the project was a ‘heavy capital investment’ for the company but would not go further into details of cost. He added, “it was long in coming, so it was something that we thought we had to do, just to serve the BVI market and our customers effectively and to just prepare ourselves for greater expansion in the future.”
According to the General Manager, the company has a very diverse portfolio of spirits and wines and he noted that one of the biggest brands distributed by Caribbean Cellars is Carib Beer. The company also distributes Corona, as well as the entire Lois Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) portfolio such as Moet champagne, Patron and Hennessey in addition to non-alcoholic products such as Snapple and other juices.
“One of the biggest wins for us out of this new project is the ability to offer a proper retail store,” he disclosed while adding that retail was something the company had not really been able to do previously because of its limited space. “What we have is a proper space to showcase our brands and have consumers touch, feel [and] engage with the products… we didn’t really have that before mostly just because of how tight the space we were in.”
The company sells to everybody in the Virgin Islands, Williams noted, including supermarkets and resorts. “When it comes down to particularly wines and spirits, we are the preferred purveyor,” he said. Caribbean Cellars also has customers within the Caribbean.
During the opening, invitees were able to win special prizes through a lucky dip after receiving raffle tickets, including ice buckets, Patron, Moet, t-shirts and other items.
The retail section boasts a temperature controlled wine room and should have a full commercial website being launched shortly that allows customers a chance to peruse its wide inventory and also shop online if desired.
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