Oliver’s Wines, the online wine information and retail platform created by Jeremy Oliver, is moving into bricks and mortar, spearheaded by Australian liquor retail legend Tony Leon.
Leon is famous for taking Dan Murphy’s from a single store to 88.
Having operated in the online space for just over 12 months, Oliver is now focused on developing bricks and mortar stores.
He is searching for the first location in Melbourne’s inner suburbs. Stores in Sydney and Brisbane will follow in coming years.
“A high-profile bricks and mortar presence can drive sales via our online platform in a way that is too hard to deliver when purely online,” says Oliver.
“But a physical multi-purpose operation featuring a wine bar plus event and education spaces will greatly help us create and nurture customer relationships.
“Visitors to our stores will discover our unique brand story and experience the depth and truly personalised nature of our online/offline presence.”
Oliver and Leon say it’s the ideal time to offer a high quality and high value range from makers large and small – known and lesser known – supported by a strong emphasis on customer engagement, experience and service.
“The major retailers are cutting back to smaller ranges of core products from major brands, while the smaller independents are struggling to create a point of difference,” Leon says.
“So our timing couldn’t be better.
“We can fill this niche and we have a story to tell.”
Oliver says Australia’s wine retail landscape is ripe for change.
“While the number of quality small independent retailers continues to decline across all major cities, the big end of town isn’t finding it easy either,” he says.
“Over the last year the share price of the Endeavour Group, owner of Dan Murphy’s, BWS, and a large portfolio of hotels, has declined by 25 percent.”
Oliver says he has heard reports that Coles Liquor’s consolidation under the Liquorland banner of all its 984 stores currently operating as First Choice, Vintage Cellars and Liquorland is leading to reductions in range and choice.
“This creates massive opportunities for those like us who don’t believe that’s what enthusiastic wine drinkers want, whatever their level of knowledge,” Oliver says.
“We can do things at a store level that are too hard for the big guys and too challenging for most of the smaller ones.”
Oliver says he is thrilled to work alongside Leon.
“Tony tells everyone how old he is, but he looks as fresh and as engaged as ever I can remember him,” he says.
“He loves developing retail brands in Australian liquor and to be honest there’s nobody I’d prefer to handle our commercial operations.
“And it’s a quirky thing we both had our starts in this industry working for Dan Murphy himself.”
Tony Leon arrived in Australia in 1977 from a small village in Lebanon where his family had lived for many generations.
He has since become one of this country’s most experienced and accomplished liquor retailers.
Having commenced at Dan Murphy’s in 1985 as wine buyer, he became a partner in the business. He was general manager for 23 years until mid-2008, the last nine of those under Woolworths ownership.
He spearheaded Dan Murphy’s rise into the most dominant liquor superstore chain in Australia, with 88 operational stores by the time of his departure.
Leon then became managing director of Liquorland Australia before becoming joint owner of Steve’s Liquor, an independent chain based in Victoria and Tasmania.
Since the publication of his first book, Thirst for Knowledge, in 1984, Jeremy Oliver has authored a total of 30 books, plus hundreds of articles published around the world.
He is particularly known for the nineteen editions of The Australian Wine Annual.
He has made hundreds of appearances on radio and television and was the first non-Chinese online key opinion leader active in China for wine, with four seasons of top-rating online TV designed to engage with and educate the Chinese market.
Photo: Jeremy Oliver, left, with Tony Leon.