RETAIL PROFILE: Independent’s Day

Consumers are looking for an alternative to the anonimity of the big chains. Philglas & Swiggot is finding favour with shoppers looking for excellent wines in a traditional environment, reports Ben Grant

Perched on a case of Amor-Bendal  Chardonnay in the storeroom of Philglas & Swiggot’s Marylebone store, chatting to owner Mike Rogers, I can’t help but think how far removed this is from the Tesco Metro round the corner. Half empty boxes are strewn about the room in a glorious display of organised chaos; an amiable ball of white fluff ambles over to sniff around my ankles; upstairs a customer (who appears to be on first name terms with both the staff) browses for half an hour before picking a bottle from a shelf that looks like it may just have been knocked together in a school woodwork class. It feels like a shop from a bygone era.

But judging by the company’s buoyant sales and heady expansion ambitions, it seems to have found a potent niche among shoppers who are "fed up with the soullessness and anonymity" of the multiples and big chains.

Mike and wife Karen opened the first branch of the superbly-named Philglas & Swiggott (P&S) on Battersea’s Northcote Road in 1991. Desperate for a change from careers in marketing and retail banking, they realised that the two things they loved best were wine and meeting people. So what better business than a speciality wine retailer? It sounded perfect on paper but the early years were far from plain sailing. While the area has since blossomed into one of the capital’s best known "foodie" haunts, littered with independent specialist stores, in the early nineties it was still very much what estate agents would label "up and coming". Then, of course, came the ravages of a huge global recession: not exactly the finest time to launch a fine wine specialist. 

Many locals were at first "outraged" by the prices P&S was charging. An average bottle costs somewhere in the region of £13, with the cheapest bottle coming in at no less than £5.99 – a bit of a shock for locals who’d ventured in expecting a standard off-licence, with prices to match. By the end of year one the business "was losing money on paper", and the recession was continuing to bite. So Mike left the shop in Karen’s capable hands, taking on export roles firstly with Mildara Blass and then with Evans & Tate.

In spite of rather significant teething problems, the Rogers stood firmly by their founding principles. "Wine merchants are often seen as very formal, condescending and threatening. We felt there was a need to be less formal, to create an environment where you could buy an eclectic range of excellent wines in a relaxed, non-patronising environment." The idea was inspired by the very different attitude towards customers in Australia, Karen’s homeland. Every customer is welcomed as they walk through the door (and it tends to be  rather more warm and genuine than the saccharine-sweet auto-greeting that has become the norm elsewhere).

"Other than having the best wines, our philosophy is to smile, be friendly, helpful and knowledgeable." It is crucial that the staff, too, adhere to these principles. The company tends to employ about ten staff across the three stores and while they are expected to have a decent level of wine knowledge, this is not the top priority. "Knowledge can be learned, the personality is more important. All our staff must be friendly, helpful and hands-on."

The benefits of such a service gradually began to bear fruit. First-time visitors soon became regulars – many customers have been frequenting the shop for the last 16 years according to Rogers – and the positive experience resulted in the kind of marketing that money simply can’t buy: word of mouth recommendations.

Prime location
For a speciality shop to be successful, Rogers explains that the most important factor is securing the correct location. Prior to signing the lease for Northcote Road, he conducted a detailed analysis of a range of potential areas looking for an appropriate site that had a high enough density of potential consumers in the vicinity to sustain the business. While he acknowledges that his approach may not have been quite as scientific or rigorous as some, it has certainly proven to be pretty shrewd. The area began to attract more and more independent, authentic, niche food retailers, creating a "close and supportive community". The concentration of shops has turned the area into something of an epicurean Mecca, drawing food lovers from around London.  It is also now home, Rogers points out, to no less than nine more wine retailers – including all of the usual suspects.

After a decade in Battersea it was clear that, given the right environment, the P&S retail model was a winning formula, so in 2003 a second store was opened in Richmond. Two years on and the empire grew further, though this time it was by request following a call from the Portland Estate. "They contacted us and asked us to come and discuss opportunities in Portland Village (Marylebone). They wanted to create a local shopping community with lots of top-end speciality independents… so the community was not reliant on supermarkets." With year-on-year sales across the three stores up by 25% in January, there’s no question that running a number of locations has not diluted the philosophy that underpins the business.

As a self-confessed "modern interpretation of a good old-fashioned retailer", Rogers would dearly love for his customers to do all of their shopping in authentic independent stores, but in reality he is smart enough to know this is not the case. "The majority of our customers are promiscuous in terms of where they buy their wine. Of course many of them will go to Tesco to buy cheaper branded wines, but we’re old enough and ugly enough not to get jealous!"

A convenient truth
This does mean, however, that P&S has to be very focused in terms of the direction of the business – and hence the rather high opening price. "It’s important for us to keep a high base price. We want people to come to us for our uniqueness, not just for convenience. The supermarkets and Threshers overwhelmingly dominate the under £6 market and if we tried to compete we’d be setting ourselves up to fail."

The only two minor concessions that P&S does allow in terms of convenience are a modest selection of spirits and a website. The spirits – which tend to be niche single malt whiskies and Cognac – represent less than 10% of total sales, while the website is designed as "an additional shop window", and does not have a shopping basket facility. (Though, underlining the unstructured and accommodating nature of the business, Rogers points out that they occasionally receive phone calls with special requests from foreign customers, who have been recommended by friends, and they are happy to handle these orders.)

In terms of the future for both the P&S business and the wider market for small niche operations, Rogers is incredibly upbeat. He is currently reviewing a number of sites and, though the location of the next store remains "a trade secret", he believes that there is room for at least ten more in the capital. "People are rebelling against the multiples, they want to buy proper, honest, decent food and drink from somebody they know and trust. The future for the independents is incredibly positive."

© db March 2007