Isn't it nice to receive surprises when you least expect them?

It's no secret that the last several years have been challenging for retailers and especially in the Liquor Business.  While it appears there are liquor stores popping up everywhere in Edmonton, in reality, many of the older, established stores offering good service, interesting products and providing education to consumers have or are closing.  In many ways it feels like a race to the bottom.  New stores that are opening are mostly convenience type discounters offering standard fare.  

We have always worked hard at raising the bar.  Our business motto has been to aim to be "the best wine and spirits store in Edmonton through the delivery of excellent customer service in a clean, attractive, relaxed environment while providing a wonderful selection of hand-selected products for great value sold at fair prices."   Having high standards is tough.  Maintaining them is tougher.  But we've stayed the course and in spite of many temptations to stray and relax our ways, we have chosen to carry on.

Our business operates on small margins, and owners with big passion.  Hiring the right people is challenging as you can't train passion, and one needs knowledgable, educated service oriented individuals to work,  but you can't afford to pay them what they truly deserve.  We've also learned you can't be all things to all customers. Located in Canada's largest mall is unique.  We get a cross section of the world visiting here and therefore we can branch out into selling eclectic ethnic products, uniquely Canadian ones as well.  More that 24,000 people work at West Edmonton Mall, so it's also a built in community that we are serving along with the surrounding local residents who patronize our store.

So, when I came into the store yesterday and was handed the Consumer Choice Award Winner for Edmonton & Northern Alberta in our category, I was gob-smacked!

Here's how businesses are selected:   The Method for Selection

Congratulations to our hard working team and Thank You to our loyal customers and all the folks that have supported us over our 18 year journey.   We are truly grateful for the recognition.