Publicity
New Customers Pour in as Interest in Wine Grows
Q & A with owner of Cool Springs Wines & Spirits
Published by The Tennessean
November 20, 2006
James "Woody" Woodard is the owner of Cool Springs Wines & Spirits and Woody's Smokes & Brews on Mallory Lane in Cool Springs. Woodard, along with five other national retailers, was recently named a "Market Watch Leader" by the publishers of Wine Spectatorand Cigar Aficionado at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Woodard was a pioneer in the wine and spirits business in Cool Springs, and his store is credited with establishing the Franklin Wine Festival. He felt honored to receive the award and said it spoke to how well he's run his business over the past 11 years.
Q: How did you start your business?
A: We started the wine store in '95. I was involved in another business before that. My office was in what is now called the Cool Springs area. I had an interest in opening up some kind of business. It didn't necessarily have to be a wine business but wine business was one that was on my list so in '93 or '94, I learned that Kroger was going to open a store in the Cool Springs area and that made me think, "Wow wouldn't that be a place to have a wine store?"
Just because the Cool Springs area had such success, we were able to have success also. The next phase, I looked around and saw the good property was going away quickly. I made some decisions to buy some land, build a building and expand the wine store. So in 2000, we opened up the building we're in now, and that's worked good for us also. When we moved into the new building we added both beer and cigars to the existing wine store.
Q: How have you grown over the years and why?
A: There's been tremendous growth for us. The first element, as far as the growth is concerned, is if you understand that most important element is you respect your customers and really give them good service in your store and supply them with what they want to buy. If you do those things then people are going to want to shop with you, and of course being in a good area is helpful.
Q: Why have you experienced so much success?
A: Selection is really an important component. We've got 5-6,000 items to choose from. The average store might be carrying about 2,000 products. We maintain about 3,000 to 3,500 wines. We have 600 different cigars and about 300 to 400 beers. The appearance of our building and design is different too. And there's a children's center for kids to come in and play while their parents are shopping for wine. It's a totally different environment than the "liquor center."
Q: Do the demographics of Williamson County have anything to do with your success and growth?
A: Certainly the county is important. Most stores in Tennessee do not sell as much wine as we sell. One of the thoughts I had was the demographics of the area would lend itself to having a good wine store. If you went to most stores in and around the state, they sell more spirits than they sell wine.
It's what the people that live in our area are interested in. The education level within a 10-mile radius of the mall is above average, college graduate, the income level is going to be above average.
Q: Why is wine such a trendy thing to enjoy?
A: The industry shows 70 percent of wine we sell is probably consumed within 24 hours of when (customers) buy it. Most people will stop by and get a bottle of wine on the way home. Once people begin to have a good understanding of wine, then it becomes more important to them to enjoy it. The 21- to 35-year-olds, they are more wine consumers now than they used to be. Younger people are becoming more interested in wine. One of the things we really focus on in our store is wine education. We have wine tastings every week and we e-mail our customers about what wine tastings we're going to have and allows them to become more informed about the product.
Q: So what about beer?
A: The beer consumer and the wine consumer are very similar. People coming in our store are looking for the unusual and unique types of beers. We offer the other stuff but we actually spend time working with our consumers and educating them about the product. The beer consumer we're going after is after taste, the (Budweiser) guy is a volume drinker, not a taste drinker.
Q: As the pioneer of wine and spirits stores in Cool Springs, how has the growth of the area affected your business?
A: We're getting (customers) from all over the United States all the time. The people who are coming in our store are coming there because it's more like what they're accustomed to where they live. Ninety-eight percent of people who come in our store from other area did not have half the selection we have, but because we have such selection, they see the things they're used to seeing.
Q: Do you think the wine business will continue growing, or level off?
A: If you read what's going on worldwide in Italy or France or Germany or anywhere in Europe, the number of wine consumers per capita is much higher than it is in the United States. That's extremely encouraging to me because I think that's a whole lot of people who haven't started drinking wine. I think the opportunity for growth in this industry is huge. We are seeing more and more people over time who have started taking an interest in it.
— INTERVIEW BY RACHEL STULTS, STAFF WRITER, THE TENNESSEAN