Writing on his blog Jim’s Loire, Jim Budd mentioned the number of ‘out of stocks’ in the Loire section and finished the post with
“Looking further at the Oddbins site, the number of wines that are ‘currently unavailable’ is rather alarming, unless the company has just had a very successful weekend.
Of the 72 Champagnes listed – 27 are available.
Of 20 Australian Cabernet Sauvignons listed – 3 are available.
Of 32 Australian Shiraz listed – just 2 are available.”
Chatting, of the record, with a branch manager the situation in the stores is reminiscent of the dying days of Unwins.
“To say that there is a supply problem is putting it mildly. We keep getting reports that wine will be arriving and small parcels are arriving in drips and drabs but nothing substantial.
I’m quite concerned, seems that they’re clearing stock rather then stocking up but we’ll see.
According to them [new owners Henry and Simon], Castel left them in the shit but we never seemed to have these supply problems with them. We have even run out of cigarettes! I know of one shop that has only 50 BOTTLES of Australian wine in the entire shop. Oddbins is also haemorrhaging accounts like crazy because there are not even the basic wholesale lines in the warehouse!! I mean what kind of operation are they running? If their goal is to be retail only, they are doing a good job of getting rid of accounts. They’re doing a much faster job of running Oddbins into the ground then Castel ever did. To say moral is low would be an understatement. “
Let us hope the new owners live up to the high expectations laid on them at the time of buying Oddbins from Castel and that the manage to ride the credit-crunch wave. Oddbins certainly has the potential to return to its glory days as the maverick, quirky, much loved high street wine merchant. Fingers crossed it does so soon.
Posted by
Andrew Barrowarb@andys-scribblings.co.uk
web :http://www.spittoon.biz http://www.spittoonextra.biz http://www.thefoodielist.co.uk
contributor:Guardian’s Word of Mouth
not surprised about out of stocks – they are in the middle of massive cutback in the range I think, but it certainly looks bad. They have not done a particularly good job of saying what they ARE about, not who they once were.
I work for Oddbins, so obviously I’m not entirely objective.
I don’t see us “haemorrhaging accounts”. Wholesale business comes and goes: I think your contact starting at shadows.
Yes the shelves are rather bare just now, but I’d rather be understocked in January/February anyway, since it’s the slow side of the year anyway. The new wines we had before Christmas all sold through very quickly, because they are so very good. As the new range comes into place I suspect that more and more commentators will be congratulating Oddbins on its canny revamp strategy.
Agree with you Rob. As an ex-Oddbins marketing person, I wonder how many people they have ‘doing’ the marketing. It was this that made Oddbins stand out, and they are really going to need it going forward to prove to the outside world what they are now about.
I remember working in Oddbins just when Nick Baille was having to deal with his own credit crunch. It is nothing now, to what happened then.
But it is an opportunity for suppliers/ importers to build good relationships with the company should it be struggling temporarily just now.
Oddbins is a solid brand after so many years and if its company culture has not completely died under the weight of Castel on top of it, then it is likely to build on the strength.
There are a lot of people in the trade that are quietly willing them on.
According to the Daily Telegraph (2 March 2009), the problems may be to do with the collapse of Oddbin’s shipping company:
“Oddbins, the high street off-licence chain, is facing a shortage of wine after French customs officials impounded stock following the collapse of its shipping company.
Many of the company’s 132 shops were left short of stock after Anglo Overseas, one of the world’s major wine shippers, fell into administration in January. “
I agree with Roddy and with the information about the fact that their shipping company has collapsed. Surely this must have caused a massive headache. According to the Telegraph the shipping company’s collapse has sped up Oddbin’s process of the clearing out of old line. I think a lot of people in the industry know that this is something they need to do. I certainly am willing them on
I Also Work For Oddbins, And Yes While We Are Low On Stock, We Are Now In A Position Where I Can Count The Last Of The Dreadful Castel Wines On One Hand… Surely A Position ALL Oddbins Shops Would Love To Be In, Not To Mention The Wine Buying Public!
There Are Still Hidden Gems In The Stripped Out Ranges, Just Ask The Staff!
I Also Agree With The Comment Roddy Made About The New Ranges Quality, It Is Outstanding, Boutique And Very Niche!
Its All A Matter Of: Watch This Space….
Last night I popped into an Oddbins for 1st time since end January and was pretty shocked by the stock situation.
I went to the largest store in Glasgow to stock up with a few mixed cases of interesting bottles, but frankly I was was pushed to fill a six pack.
My first thought was that the store was closing down, but when I asked the assiatant about the lack of stock he explained the unfortunate situation as outlined in Andrew’s post above.
Assistant reassured me that brand new range is due “imminently” and said that the overall range will be reduced to 300 core lines plus bin-ends.
As an ex-Oddbins manager myself, I wish them all the best and agree that customers won’t be sorry to see some of the Castel dross disappear (how many watery French roses does a company really need to stock?).
However 300 core lines plus XX bin-ends does sound a bit small to me… Think Majestic run with an average of 700 or so lines?
In any case I look forward to trying the new range when it comes in. If it’s as well chosen as the staff suggest then I suppose size isn’t everything!
All is certainly not ok at Oddbins. I am a current employee and to say that moral amongst the staff is at low would be a gross understatement. We are currently running on a skeletal staff system which does not provide cover in the event of staff illness or holidays, resulting in staff being forced by the company to come in and work above and beyond their contracted hours for no extra pay.
The glorious new range we were promised only ever half materialised and now is beginning to disappear off the shelves. Time and time again we are having to tell customers to check back next week for very basic product lines. The prices inch up every few months and people are moreover walking out because they feel the prices are too high. Add to this the threats of constant threats of dismissal for not hitting targets and it adds up to a disaffected and frankly pissed off workforce.