ABL member named Market Watch Retailer of the Year Jim James, CEO of the Indianapolis based 21st Amendment, Inc., which runs 18 off-premise beverage alcohol outlets, has been named the 2005 Market Watch Retailer of the Year.
James is a member of the Indiana Association of Beverage Retailers and an ABL member.
James started his business with the purchase of an individual beverage alcohol store in Indianapolis in 1971 after a stint as a restauranteur. By 1984, the 21st Amendment chain boasted 16 stores.
James adjusted his stores and their locations in the following years, applying his business acumen to the changing preferences of Indiana beverage alcohol consumers, including an added emphasis on wine.
In 1999, 21st Amendment acquired Wine Gallery to create Wine Gallery by 21st Amendment, of which there are currently six locations around Indianapolis. According to the 21st Amendment website,
, "The concept was created to update some of our existing wine stores with a new identity that showcased expanded wine selections. Each location is staffed with individuals who have extensive wine knowledge and years of experience in the wine, spirit and beer industry."
As with many independent beverage alcohol retailers, the business is a family affair. James' son, Jim James, Jr., has been working with the company full-time for the past five years and is primed to take on the responsibilities of the company when the elder James decides to hand over the keys to the store.
Sunday sales proving to be no boon in Pennsylvania
Beer Distributors in Pennsylvania are finding that Sunday may not be the booming retail bonanza that they were told it would be.
Despite projections to the contrary, Sunday beer sales have been lower than projected since the state' beer distributors were given the the go ahead for Sunday sales over this past Labor Day weekend.
The Penn State Collegian recently reported that despite the 840 beer distributors who applied for licenses after changes were made to Pennsylvania' liquor code, anecdotal reports have been surfacing of beer sales being slow on Sundays.
According to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, distributors with licenses can open from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays.
While the PLCB does not keep track of beer sales and it is still too early to tell if the disappointing Sunday sales trend will continue, at least one beer distributor isn't even going to bother opening on Sundays.
As Paul Pletcher of Pletcher' Beer Distributors, who has obtained a license, told the Collegian upon hearing of the reports of slow sales, "There's a possibility I may not open at all."
Tito' Vodka continues to draw praise
Tito' Handmade Vodka continues its auspicious climb up the ranks of the cluttered premium vodka hierarchy. Simple packaging and an affordable price have kept this juggernaut rolling.
Now sold in 45 states, Tito' is produced in Texas' first legal distillery by its creator, Tito Beveridge. A garrulous man who has claimed to have "MacGyvered" his first still out of PVC pipe and duct tape, Tito gave a delightful talk at the 2005 convention of the American Beverage Licensees about his super-smooth and very affordable premium vodka.
Tito keeps costs low by using word-of-mouth advertising (which as it turns out is working pretty well) and a few select publications, and a three-person distilling team employing a single pot still and corn instead of wheat to produce a smooth vodka with a slightly sweet aftertaste.
Michigan okays out-of-state wine shipments
Striking down a 20-year ban and defying the wisdom of the Michigan Atty. Gen. Mike Cox along with the state' beer and wine wholesalers, Chief U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman has ordered the direct wine shipment floodgates open and declared that out-of-state wineries can directly ship to consumers in Michigan.
Michigan' wine shipping laws were brought to the forefront in a U.S. Supreme Court case decided in May 2005 that sought to end discriminatory practices by states.
In it' finding, the high court said a state must treat all wineries the same, be they in-state or out-of-state, with regard to direct shipment laws. Toward that end, the state of Michigan had sought to place a temporary ban on all direct wine shipments, but was rebuffed with Friedman' ruling.
While ardent wine enthusiasts are happily toasting the decision, they may be doing so prematurely as only the future will tell what impact market forces--namely the influx of more recognizable, higher-rated and perhaps cheaper wine from traditional wine producing states such as California and Washington--will have on Michigan' small state wineries that clamored so loudly for this result.
The narrow interpretation of the Supreme Court decision and frantic demographic assumptions made by wine lovers, that "teens don't drink wine" or don't have the wherewithal to purchase wine, punctuate a non-legalistic--though very real--aspect of this issue.
Many expect to see more lawsuits in the future as that first bottle of catalog- or internet-ordered vodka makes its way to a Michigan minor. At least one constitutional scholar has remarked that there is no legally definable difference between different forms of beverage alcohol.
The state' wineries and beer and wine wholesalers can still seek a compromise as the state legislature now will work to regulate shipments which will determine how taxes on direct shipments are collected and what measures can be taken to prevent the sale of alcohol to minors in light of the ruling.
EU dumps drinks labeling plans
The European Union, which had been considering nutritional, ingredient and content labeling has, at least for now, backed away from the plan due to, according to the European Commission, no progress being made by the Council of Ministers.
Food Production Daily.com said the move was part of the Commission's decision to end consideration of 68 proposal that had languished on the back burner far too long or would interfere with the EU's competitive position. The alcohol beverage labeling was first proposed in 1997.
Suit alleging youth targeting dismissed
A Colorado judge in mid-October dismissed a lawsuit alleging that alcohol beverage makers have "deliberately and recklessly" targeted youth with their
advertising.
According to the National Beer Wholesalers Association's (NBWA) Beer Perspectives magazine, this is the second such class action suit that has been punted from court.
The court said the plaintiffs, Randy and Colleen Kraft failed "to prove facts in support of their claims that would give them standing to obtain the relief they seek in court..." and were unable to show they "suffered actual damages or losses" from beverage makers' actions.
The court also rejected plaintiff's attempt to create a class action lawsuit, Beer Perspectives reported. Without individual standing, there could be no class standing either, the court ruled.
Perhaps most satisfying is that the court awarded the defendants "reasonable attorney's fees and costs."
Defendants were Adolph Coors, Bacardi USA, Diageo North America, Heineken USA, Kobrand Corp., Mark Anthony Brands Inc. and the Beer Institute.
Beverage alcohol advertising is regulated to some extent by the federal authorities as well as by strictly enforced industry codes.