Adnams in the cellar

Caroline Fox, Adnams' Retail Development Manager, wants Adnams to not only be known for its beer but also its promising retail potential

For most, the name Adnams is synonymous with beer, but Adnams have many strings to their bow, one of which is their award winning line of Cellar & Kitchen stores, which sell the best in high-class wine and kitchenware. Adnams’ Cellar & Kitchen brand is continually expanding – there are already eight stores around the East Anglia region and Adnams plan to have 30 by 2012. The woman behind this impressive expansion is Caroline Fox, Adnams’ Retail Development Manager. Ms Fox is responsible for handpicking new locations and properties suitable for the growing Cellar & Kitchen brand.

Her aims for 2008 are to push the Cellar & Kitchen concept out of East Anglia and into other core areas. Ms Fox commented, “We’re aiming to expand out of East Anglia because we have a great proposition and know that people are aware of the Cellar & Kitchen brand. We’re on the look out for tourist hotspots that are similar to existing successful stores locations, including Southwold and Holkham. Spots such as Richmond-upon-Thames, the South Downs, the Cotswolds and Bristol and are all on my wish list”.

Ms Fox’s strategy for outlet selection is to focus on locations where there is a core base of regular local trade, supplemented by tourist visitors and second homeowners. The key to their success is attracting the consumer who is looking for interesting wines and kitchenware that are not available on the high street. This has proven to be a winning formula for Adnams and the continued success of the Cellar & Kitchen stores is reliant on sourcing the most suitable locations.

Aside from the key positions of the stores, Ms Fox puts the success of Cellar & Kitchen down to Adnams’ business ethics of ‘doing things right’ and the fact that all of their wine and kitchenware is specially selected from exclusive producers.

The stores offer customers a unique shopping experience and each house an extensive selection of over 400 wines, which are personally selected by Adnams’ expert wine buyers, Alastair Marshall and Rob Chase. Mr Marshall and Mr Chase’s buying philosophy is based on purchasing wines they truly love to drink - most are from small-scale producers, are made in an environmentally respectful manner, and will certainly not be found in supermarkets.

Another key feature of Adnams’ Cellar & Kitchen stores is that there is a wine tasting area in every store, which customers constantly enthuse about, with wines open and available to try all the time. In addition to this, the team at the Cellar & Kitchen stores are always available to share their wine knowledge and help out with wine and food matching.

Inside their Cellar & Kitchen stores Adnams stock essential kitchenware items, such as glassware, pottery, plates and cutlery, as well as top of the range, hand-crafted designer items.

So what does the future hold for Adnams’ Cellar & Kitchen stores? Ms Fox enthused, “We want to go national. The feedback from customers has been phenomenal and we see no reason why the success of the store regionally should not be replicated on a national level, so watch this space!”