Not many years ago, any one who tried to buy a bottle of alcohol standing outside the nukkadwala wine store was looked down upon as a drunkard. However, times have changed. The modern-day retailing has revolutionized the entire experience of alcohol shopping. So much so that even women these days find it convenient enough to walk into an alcohol store inside any super market and pick up their favourite brand of beer or wine.
Living Liquidz with about 42 outlets spread across Mumbai from Church Gate to Nalasupara and Navi Mumbai, has a lot to its credit. Rojita Tiwari reports.
Offering over 1000 different types of liquor brands and more than 300 wine labels covering every region of the world, Living Liquidz is a venture by entrepreneur Moksh Sani (Managing Director) & Manish Sani (Chairman). An initiative to make available, exclusive wines, beer and more to the common man and promote the concept of fine wines as a part of the urban cosmopolitan lifestyle.
However, the journey so far has not been easy for Moksh. A country where the import duty is sky rocketing and wine and beer are still considered in the same category as spirits, the challenges are just never ending. The biggest challenge right now in front of us is to make people buy BIO from retail., says Mokesh Despite having the best range of brands and comfort of buying, people still prefer to buy alcohol from various other channels which is most of the time not genuine. It is high time that the government realise what a revenue loss it is to the country.
Just recently we have launched ‘Living Liquidz’ – a luxurious liquor shopping experience along with a Wine Bar ‘n’ Café at Tata Star Bazaar, Andheri (W), Mumbai. This store launch is a breakthrough in the Indian shopping experience; with the city’s first, largest and most eloquently designed, full spectrum liquor store accompanied by a quaint Wine Bar ‘n’ Café with delicious desserts from Deliciae and exquisite wines from FineWinesnMore (FWM).
This is one of its kind in the country as it not only houses exclusive brands but also offers the customers free wine tasting for Indian and international brands at its Wine Bar ‘n’ Café . We have also plans to conduct wine training & bar tending workshops very soon, added Moksh.
Sharing the company’s expansion plan, he says, in next six months we have seven new stores coming up, out of which three are with Star Bazaar, three with Reliance Fresh, one with Hyper City and one more which I would not want to talk about at the moment. But we have been content working and growing with all leading FMCG retailers in Mumbai like, Hyper city, Tata Star Bazaar, ABRL More, Reliance Fresh, Spinach, Spencer’s.
The key to the company’s success is its “Service”. This is one word I believe in. This includes the look and feel of our store, online services, door delivery, return back policy, bar tending needs and venue booking. We have maintained our uniqueness time to time. We have tried to replicate duty free shopping at Star Bazaar, Andheri. Now I am eager to open an authentic cellar in Mumbai along with a malt cigar room. Moksh is as much positive about the future of liquor retailing in India as the future of his own company. The industry has already achieved a break through in 2007 with the new wine and beer policy. Five years down the line I see further improvements in policy in terms of stores in gas stations and theaters etc. As far as retailing is concerned, if the government does not bring down taxes on BIO goods, I do not see any improvement in sale.
We note another example of his optimistic attitude when he announces that Living Liquidz is all set to introduce ‘LIVE 3’ a packaged drinking water label in the market very soon.
Lets say cheers to that!