While most bottle shops are organised around grape variety and region, Drop Shop, which opens in Brunswick East today, features an occasion-based liquor format.
Drop Shop describes itself as “a convenience store for drinks that’s designed like Aesop, run like 7-Eleven and organised to take the guesswork out of buying booze”.
It is the brainchild of Pinot Palooza founder and Wine Victoria chair Dan Sims, drinks retail specialist Courtney Keegan (ex-Dan Murphy’s, Blackhearts & Sparrows), and Luke McKinnon, founder of communications agency Common State.
Sims and Keegan say they have spent enough time around the wine aisle to know that the old model no longer speaks to how people actually drink.
“Ultimately, they just want something delicious they can feel good about serving or showing up with – and they don’t want to overthink it,” says McKinnon.
“We want to create a new category, an occasion-based liquor format that strips out the clutter and speaks directly to the individual who’s tired of choosing between a warehouse and a wine lecture.”
With this guiding logic, the offer is deliberately simple.
Wines are presented in three distinct categories – Weekday ($15-$25), Party ($25-$40) and Fancy ($40+) – with Victorian and rising producers front and centre.
The same equation applies across wine, beer, RTDs, spirits, as well as non-alcoholic options.
Format is just as considered, with six-packs, slabs, half-bottles, bagnums, cocktails and cans all chosen with the same care as the wine itself, because not every occasion calls for the same serve.
Across the board, it’s a tight selection, edited by Sims and Keegan in a process they describe as ruthless.
“Most retailers would probably describe themselves as highly curated,” Sims says, “but the average bottle shop stocks more than 1,000 wines.
“At Drop Shop, we literally only have room for 150, so everything has to really earn its spot on the shelf.
“The idea isn’t to limit choice – it’s to make choosing easier.”
For McKinnon, the experience is as important as the selection.
“People want convenience, speed and reliability,” he says.
“What’s changed is the expectation that it should come with significantly better curation and a nicer in-store experience.
“We’ve created a space you move through instinctively and walk out of feeling good.”
With interiors by We Are Humble (Good Measure, Operator Diner) and branding by Hamish Childs, the tiny 60 square metre neon-lit corner store takes its cues from the structured simplicity of Japanese konbinis.
The shop’s gallery-like restraint – free of the visual clutter that often defines the category – gives wine a backdrop that is considered, confident and refreshingly original.
“We’ve seen entire categories transformed by better retail,” McKinnon says.
“The experience has become part of the product. For something fun that people genuinely love, liquor retail has remained surprisingly unchanged.
“That’s crazy to me. What an opportunity.”
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