Carolyn Fath
Total Wine & More is the nation’s largest independent wine and spirits retailer.
Over the last four decades, Cork ’n Bottle co-owner Jim Wright has weathered “friendly competition” from other local liquor stores and grappled with the rise of grocery store liquor departments. The store, which opened at 855 E. Johnson St. in 1960, has “never really had much of a business model,” Wright says. “We’ve been just kind of gliding along and watching what’s going on.”
Wright wasn’t too worried when he heard that Total Wine & More — a retail behemoth known for rock-bottom prices and an enormous selection of wine, liquor and beer — was set to open in April on Madison’s west side. “We can’t compete on pricing,” Wright admits, “but we want to make sure that everyone who buys from us is very happy with their purchase. We put a face to each sale; with Total, they don’t think about face. They have a computer that tells them what to sell.”
The Total Wine concept was born in 1991 when brothers David and Robert Trone opened their first store in Delaware. Today, the privately held company is the nation’s largest independent wine and spirits retailer, with more than 180 stores in 21 states. The Madison location at West Towne is the company’s third in Wisconsin. “We have had great success in Brookfield and Greenfield, and this new Madison store will once again offer Total Wine & More’s signature experience and customer service, expert staff and extensive selection,” spokesman Edward Cooper said in a news release.
While some might cheer the idea of a Walmart-sized superstore full of cheap booze, not everybody has welcomed Total Wine to their town. Liquor store owners in Minnesota mounted a 2015 battle to prevent Total Wine from opening stores in the state, arguing that the company has a history of advertising prices below cost, an illegal practice. In 2017, the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission suspended the licenses of two Total Wine stores for allegedly selling liquor below wholesale cost. Total Wine challenged the suspension with a lawsuit arguing “its prices for consumers weren’t actually below its costs but were based on quantity discounts the company expected to receive from its wholesalers later on, after it had ordered enough of the products to qualify,” according to The Boston Globe.
Andrea Hillsey, owner of Square Wine Company, says that Total Wine’s presence in Madison might put pressure on bigger alcohol distributors or wine shops that sell big-name brands, but it won’t impact her shop at 5 N. Pinckney St., which stocks mostly wines from small, family growers.
“I think that our business model is so niche, what we do is so thoughtful and personalized, I don’t think that Total Wine being here is going to affect us,” she says.
Total Wine also offers private-label products tagged Winery Direct or Spirit Direct. These are special products made exclusively for Total Wine and described by the company as “the wines and spirits we love to share.” The company has said it makes “superior margins” on private labels.
Wayne Crokus, manager of Steve’s Wine, Beer and Spirits at 3618 University Ave., says he doesn’t know much about the reputation of Total Wine’s private-label products. “I don’t know that anybody really does, outside their corporation,” he says.
For small business owners or customers worried about their favorite wine shop, Hillsey says there’s no reason to worry. But she advises people to think before they shop.
Says Hillsey: “Whether it’s Total Wine or the farmers’ market, I’m a firm believer that voting in elections and choosing where you spend your money are just about the only powers the average person has.”