Jason Gold, owner of Gold’s Wine & Spirits, a 2,000-square-foot single location in Middletown, RI, cites the store’s connection and involvement with the local community as one of the reasons it has been so successful.
“We’re pretty actively involved in the community,” he says. “It turns out you need booze to have fun at a party, so people come to me and ask me for stuff all the time. Even though we want to be involved in everything, we can’t, so we pick some of the more beneficial events for the community. My wife and I pick which charities we want to give to, and it’s a fun way to involve her, as well.”
Gold’s Wine & Spirits isn’t Gold’s first rendezvous with the beverage alcohol industry. His father owned several restaurants back in the day, and wine particularly interested him. “Between pairing food and wine or food and spirits, pairing the right food and drink together was always really important to me,” he notes.
This led to Gold buying his own liquor store nine years ago for just under one million. Situated inside of a strip mall, even though the store is on the smaller side, it has certainly served its purpose and helped Gold grow his business.
The One-Stop-Shop for Yachts
With Newport so close by, another factor that has helped the liquor store gain traction is by specializing in yacht delivery. Known as the “sailing capital of the world,” Newport is home to some of the largest — and the largest number — of yachts in the U.S.
“We provide water and all drinks for yachts, so we are a one-stop-shop for most of them,” says Gold.
The liquor store’s delivery business drives quite a bit of revenue. Through their website and app, Gold says they’ve developed a huge following.
“Our app came out about two-and-a-half years ago, and it allows us to service outside of our primary market,” he explains. “We’re in Middletown and Portsmouth, and we can even drive an extra 10 minutes outside of our market area to service those extra customers.”
SEO has been instrumental in capturing business from tourists who come to the area. Gold says they heavily invest in SEO, so when a tourist searches for nearby liquor stores, the Gold’s Wine & Spirits website and app pop up.
The Rhody Barrel Brotherhood
Gold also manages to attract customers with the store’s Rhody Barrel Brotherhood barrel group, which just so happens to be the largest in Rhode Island. Through this program, they’ve managed to move over 40 barrels in two years.
“We’re doing our 50th barrel right now, which adds a ton of revenue to the store,” he says. “For all the customers in our barrel group, we do a rare bourbon raffle twice a year. Everyone gets punch cards, and once you’ve bought eight barrel picks, you get a chance to wait in line and pick out one allocated item that you like.”
Gold explains that the bourbon is first come, first serve, and customers can buy these allocated spirits at retail. With how insane the secondary market has gotten, it’s a great way for spirit-lovers to get their hands on rare bourbons for decent prices.
“We usually attract around 100 people for every raffle, which helps to drive traffic to our barrel group,” notes Gold.
Future Growth
The revenue that Gold’s Wine & Spirits has been bringing in over the past nine years inspired Gold and his wife to purchase land to build a new location for the liquor store.
“We purchased the land because we would like to invest in property for ourselves instead of renting,” he explains. “I’m excited about moving into a much larger and new location. It’s a dream that I’ve had to buy property and attach my store to it. After working hard, we were finally able to do it.”
The new location will be around 7,000 square feet — a nice upgrade. Gold says construction should be finished in late July or early August of this year.
“We plan on moving in after Labor Day since Newport is very seasonal and our private wealth clients will keep us insanely busy,” he notes. “But this is cool, because I’ve always wanted to own a property, and now we get to build the new store with the money we’ve saved. This will definitely help our business to grow and to better serve the community.”
Editor’s Note: This is part of our annual coverage and celebration of The Top 100 beverage alcohol retailers in the U.S., including the naming of our 2024 Retailer of the Year.
Krystina Skibo is the Trade Managing Editor at Beverage Dynamics. Reach her at kskibo@epgacceleration.com. Read her recent piece, Vodka Trends in 2024.
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