The Pip Stop toasts successful first year

The Pip Stop, a unique alcohol retailer in the North East is set to open a second shop following a successful first year in business.

Boasting more than 300 varieties of wine, and over 120 beers, both in store and online, the County Durham retailer is more than just an average off licence.

Having just celebrated The Pip Stop’s first anniversary, owner Ben Cleary, 27, now has plans to open a second store in either Newcastle or Durham, offering a range of customer experiences such as tasting rooms, interactive cellars and events.

A former manager at Majestic Wine, Ben has been working in the wine industry since the age of 15 and said the lessons learned from his first year of business will be invaluable in ensuring The Pip Stop’s future success.

He said: “In the first year our plan was to try as much as possible and see what worked and what didn’t. There were certainly some surprises, for a start we never expected our beer sales to be so high but craft ales and beers have really taken off recently and while the majority of our online sales were for wine to start with, now around 70% are for beer.”

While the majority of The Pip Stop’s sales are currently made through its Maiden Law shop, the plan for the next year is to increase the business’ online presence in order to reach new customers across the UK.

Ben said: “There is no getting away from the fact that we are based in a very rural area and our location is definitely one of the things that makes us so unique. However, there is a limit on how much business the shop can bring in so our plan now is to really focus on our online offering.

“Currently around 20% of our sales come through the website and our plan is to increase this to around 35% in the next year. One of the ways we hope to achieve this is by setting up an online wine club.”

Ben also plans to increase the variety of events offered by The Pip Stop, such as wine tastings and pop-up bars, and to tap into food and drink trends such as the current popularity of vegan wine and beers.

He said: “We tried lots of different events last year and now have a good idea of which work well for us. We already offer tasting evenings at the shop but plan to do more private events in people’s homes or in conjunction with local businesses.

“We will be looking at expanding our bar service and running pop-up bars at festivals and events. We also took part in a number of vegan food festivals last year which are perfect for us as we stock a large number of vegan-friendly wines and beers, so this is something we hope to continue.”

The Pip Stop is already making a name for itself within the wine industry having recently been shortlisted in the Regional Merchant of the Year category of the International Wine Challenge 2016 Merchant Awards.

And, while there is plenty to keep Ben and his two assistant managers Jen Scott and David Smith busy over the next year, he won’t be rushing into any decisions lightly.

He said: “One thing I’ve learnt over the last year is not to rush into anything – we’ve got the experience behind us and have a clear vision of what it is we want to achieve now and I believe it’s worth taking our time to find that.

“I want the next shop to be really interactive, possibly combining the wine and beer with a food offering to really give customers a rounded experience. This is something me and the team here are really passionate about and we’re very excited about what we can achieve in our second year of business.”

For more information about the Pip Stop please visit www.thepipstop.co.uk