"Bold Flavor," Inform Architecture and Design, 2007, No. 2, p18.
As their website says: "YOU'RE THE EXPERT ... Wine buying for the rest of us. It's not about stuffy wine reviews and knowing exactly what you want. Drink what you like. As long as you never use the term 'oaky,' you'll be just fine. "I love the impossibly thin light tubes that illuminate the signage above the wine racks on the wall. There is such keen attention paid to the ceiling heights and creating spaces within spaces. In the front of the store there is a small area where the walling turns to ceiling and fixtures connect to floor and ceiling and create rotating wine racks that are larger than human scale.
The store in clean and cool, an ideal environment for wine. This could explain why there is no major attempt at creating ingenuitive window displays: sunlight and heat destroys wine. Instead the focus is on creating functional fixtures that show off the product and market it to a particular customer. The red wall appropriate for a wine store provides some visual heat and warmth to the space. An alcove of golden wood also achieves this aim.
This is an interesting case study in how to organize a product that is extremely diverse, but on the outside essential all looks the same. While an interesting label will attract the customer, the store helps establish an order that can bring the customer closer to their perfect match in a creative way.
The fixtures are easy enough to interact with - ring holders hold vertically placed bottles of wine next to cards with their descriptions on them. Sandwiched in the inside of the fixture is a wine rack that hold the extra stock.
Bright colors and industrial materials keep the store universal in its appeal to men and women. The interior is sparse in the way of furniture. There appears to be a bar for tasting- sans the barstool. Also a similarly constructed semicircular cash wrap sits in the back of the store where the salesperson has a clear view of the whole store while remaining out of the main path.
The store is really very minimal. There is not much of what I like to call the "linger factor." The shopping experience seems to focused on ease of selection so that the customer may chose their product, pay for it, and head home. Perhaps this is a perfect marketing strategy in and of itself. Make it easy for the customer to buy, especially after an exhausting work week (i'm assuming when most people stop by), thereby ensuring their return.
Winestore-online.com says that "We wanted to eliminate that fear and extend the favorable experience on the retail side. We have built our brand value on providing a positive experience for our customers above all else. Winestore is the result of that concept – a contemporary solution to the wine purchasing experience. All the aesthetic decisions for the identity were derived in order to distinguish Winestore from other wine shops by being innovative as well as approachable. Winestore is about celebrating the individuality of each brand of wine it sells, as well as the experience."
The store is super user-friendly employing touch screen kiosks, wine-tasting machines and signage that tells you the simple facts: RED, WHITE, even TAX REFUND.
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