A sparkling chain that lost its fizz

Since the retailer was sold the owners of Nicolas, its range has been duller and it has lost its ability to connect with its customers The news that Oddbins seems to have finally gone belly up will sadden those of us who fell in love with wine through their wonderfully quirky and exciting shops. Going into an Oddbins in the late 1980s was like entering an Aladdin’s cave of mad, colourful labels and enticing new flavours. They introduced me to southern French wines I still love, such as Bandol and Les Baux de Provence and elegant Alsace pinot blanc (a cut-price alternative to white burgundy for hard-up young drinkers). Their wine lists, illustrated by the great Ralph Steadman, were collectors’ items in themselves as were the labels he designed for them such as the Monty Pythonesque Cardinal Zin, a collaboration with the equally eccentric Randall Grahm. They were the first to champion Australia and Chile and at one stage introduced a brilliant range of Greek wines – hard to imagine in any high street chain now. It was such a refreshing change from the staid pinstripe-suited world of the conventional wine merchant. But somehow Oddbins lost the plot. Questions were being asked about its viability nine years ago when it was sold to the French company Castel, owners of the pedestrian chain Nicolas. The range became progressively duller. The website was plodding and hard to use. Prices were inflated (you’d have thought they would learn from Wine Rack’s mistakes) – and only a reasonable price when you bought six bottles. The most recent tasting I went to, a few months ago, was the best for a long while. The head buyer, Richard Verney – who clearly saw the writing on the wall and left before Christmas – had persuaded the chain to major on organic, biodynamic and sustainable wines which have proved flavour of the month this year. Maybe a “green” Oddbins would have had a future. They just seemed to have lost their ability to connect with their natural target audience. It feels a bit like hearing that a lover you split up with a long time ago has fallen on hard times. You take no pleasure in their misfortune. The real losers however are not us, the customers, but their many excellent staff and the wine producers who supplied them who will be lucky if they retrieve the money they are owed. There may now be a flourishing market for online wine merchants but there are fewer and fewer places you can just wander into, browse and learn. Like bookshops, high street wine merchants seem to have outlived their usefulness and we’re all poorer for that. Retail industry Food & drink industry Fiona Beckett guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 1, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.