Destination store for your spirits

Every Tuesday on the BottleBlog, we'll focus on interesting or exciting industry news from here in New Jersey, to the valleys of California, to the vineyards of New Zealand. Today we're staying close to home as our very own Michael Brenner was recently featured in the Trenton Times!

From book signings to celebrity appearances to a Liquid Learning Center, Joe Canal’s Discount Liquor Outlet has it all
by Wendy Plump, Special to the Times

The first-time visitor to Joe Canal’s Discount Liquor Outlet can be forgiven for a slight sense of confusion when walking through the cavernous store in the Mercer Mall. It is supposed to be a warehouse for wine and spirits, meaning big and cheap and without any emphasis on ambiance.

But there are free wine tastings every Friday night and Saturday afternoon. There are book signings and celebrity appearances. (Dan Aykroyd’s Crystal Head Vodka,
anyone?)

There are stories about featured vineyards and travelogues from employees who have visited Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Chile chasing down boutique wines. There is a “Liquid Learning Center” complete with lectures and lessons.

Is this the spirits version of Barnes & Noble?

In fact, since its opening in 2002, Joe Canal’s in Lawrenceville has aimed to replicate that very experience for the consumer—a “destination store” where the customer comes away with more than a bottle in a brown bag.

This business model centered on a huge, discounted collection coupled with subtle instruction has proven successful for the liquor emporium, which expanded its present building in 2006 and opened another location in Woodbridge that same year.

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