I still get 20% off coupons but anything I want is either not in stock (or only 1 bottle available) or ineligible because the price ends in a “7.”
+1, I have been to TW two times this year for minimal purchases. The real good coupons have not been offered since COVID-19 hit.
I find they are pretty good for liquor, Bourbon and Scotch, but meh for wine.
I just bought some Quinta do Vale Meao tinto from them. One of the top Douro wines and a decent price with coupon.
+1
Also, the occasional champagne in the glass cooler
…
Their Bordeaux pricing, which used to be good with a 20% coupon, has gone to absolute hell ever since they increased prices across the board when the tariffs hit. And the price increases, in many instances, were greater than the tariffs %.
I have to believe anyone at TW corporate who is paying attention has noticed their fine wine sales plummet ever since they significantly pulled-back on usable coupons and simultaneously increased their prices.
TW beer can sit on the shelves for a long time… have frequently found six month old + IPAs. YMMV. Pretty cool for stouts and bourbon, although the latter is filled with their “selections,” similar to the wine.
Oh, they have noticed! Call Concierge sometime and ask about current specials by the case in first growth Bordeaux. At certain locations, the prices have been dialed back as well on whatever is going on special at Concierge. It is not all happening at once, especially because with lots of people shopping while bored plus 2017s being delayed, but once the 2017s get here I would anticipate there will be broader rollbacks at the top end.
They won’t have any choice. And for my part I have told any manager that would listen that it is really hurting their reputation right now. People go to TW for price. Sometimes you get some really great wine managers and staff, but when those people move on the replacements can be friendly- but not exactly motivated to provide full service or make special orders etc. The more people go in there and see top Bordeaux prices so far over current market- the more future random foot traffic for higher end purchases they will lose.
Just to give you an idea how out of whack the repricings were in this area- right before I moved back to Austin from Dallas I went into a couple of the mid-cities locations and saw they had bottles of 2014 Lafite at 799.97 and magnums at 899.97. Now the magnums around just over $1K on a new tranche (someone must have bought all the ones they had before), but still way out of line with the bottle pricing.
And once the wines are overpriced, and just sit there, not selling, they will be on that shelf for years.
I swear the top row of the NoRho section in the closest store is still the same mispriced off vintage efforts that have been there since they opened that store. Maybe they find that someone buys a bottle occasionally, but I just can’t believe there is much walk up demand for 07 , 08 era $70 Cornas.
I have the same experience with old beer at TW, which is why I refuse to buy any beer there that doesn’t give me some indication as to how old it is. Sadly, this results in me passing on many beers that are probably totally okay; it also results in me putting old beer back on the shelf quite frequently, too. Any IPA producer that doesn’t somewhere on its packaging indicate date of canning/bottling is virtually guaranteed NOT to get my business.
Their pricing is constantly out-of-whack, and frequently head-scratching. I’ve seen the same dynamic you detailed with 750ml vs. mag pricing, granted not with first growths (I don’t look because I don’t swim in that pond).
I’m in their store often enough for beer that I am very familiar with their Bdx. selection (I always take a look). I swear they’ve increased their prices 2 or 3 times since the tariffs hit. It feels insulting, but it’s very easy (albeit frustrating) to vote with my wallet. Last weekend I noticed a bottle of 2014 Pichon Baron in the glass case for $170. Twenty feet away, on an open shelf, remained the one last bottle they’ve had there for months, with a price tag/talker below it for $120. With a 20% coupon, that $120 is not a bad price (drops just below $100); also bought from them a year prior at $110 (before coupon). Their pricing is so bad now that even with a 20% coupon (which are now very rare, and require a purchase of at least 12 bottles) their pricing is still easily beat by others. I guess they just don’t want wine geeks’ business anymore! Disappointing, for sure, but their business decision to make.
A few more “interesting” examples (all prices before coupon applied):
2014, 2016, and 2017 Giscours now all $100. 2015 at $130. I bought a mag of the 2014 from them for $87 two years ago (without a coupon).
2014 Rauzan Segla now $105; in October of 2017 they had mags of the same at $145.
2017 Grand Puy Lacoste at $135 right now.
2015 Cantemerle at $55; it was $40 as recently as Feb. of last year.
2014 Montrose now $200; $140 as recently as Feb. of last year.
2015 Domaine de Chevalier now $120; $85 less than 2 years ago.
2014 Malescot St. Exupery now $100; $50 2.5 years ago.
Those are just examples from what I’ve bought and of wines still in-stock at TW.
I agree that it is not just from the tariffs. I do not track everything closely, but it feels like a few things have gone up more than once. And yes, they are not very good about updating the price tags. A few weeks back, a location I do not usually frequent had a bottle of 2014 Mouton at $529 which I took. At the register it came up higher, but they honored the $529 price.
And a couple of months ago, another location had just put out a case of Valdicava Brunello- I forget the exact price- and I took it all. At the register it rang up about 30% higher which I questioned. They said it was the new vintage and the shelf tag was for a previous vintage. I checked winesearcher real quick for recent pricing trends on both vintages and did not find much of a difference nationally. In that instance the manager refused to honor the pricing discrepancy- and so I passed on the bottles. If I had found on a national level that there had been a bump from the last vintage, I would have bought the bottles at the higher price and not complained- but in this case, no thanks.
For my part, I welcomed the presence of TW and still do to some extent. Around here they deal in beer, liquor, the very high end and high volume top Bordeaux and then a lot of their own stuff. They are really not competition for the local brick and mortar stores where I give almost all my business, regardless of price, and they offer first growths and other things a lot of smaller stores are not bothering with these days. But consistency and CS are a bit variable for my tastes. I can live with a box store approach, and indeed welcome it when it addresses a segment of the market I cannot get from my favorite sources, but that needs to come with a box store price…
PS- As for not wanting wine geek business, I think in many ways at the retail level they do not really understand the market- nor do they endeavor to do so. I think that is probably due to where the bread and butter money is made in the stores. The Concierge service on the other hand gets it and they are great. When a rare wine comes to town and 1-2 bottles go to each store, I have in the past spent an afternoon going all over town to put together the case. Sometimes managers are cool and give me the 6 bottle discount if I tell them I am going to be buying all 6 bottles in the market that day. Some have been jerks about it. I finally just called a central office and told them how many hundreds of thousands of loyalty points I had and that I was tired of the BS- and they sent me to Concierge where all has been great since aside from not getting any 2019 Le Pin yet.
The same can be said of many high end grocery stores around here. A few years back, the Safeway and Kroger chains decided to get into champagne and put cold cabinets in many of their stores and offered all the big champagnes. Nobody bothered to research the market and realize that here in Texas wine retailers take a markup on champagne that is 1/3 to 1/2 the markup on regular wine- and so they are sitting on things like Dom Perignon 2005 and 2006 at $250-260 a bottle while their CA Cabs are decently priced. There is not the volume there to care- and so they just carry on, occasionally selling the odd bottle. And in time they will get bored and stop carrying top bottles altogether- just like they did 10 years ago in the last cycle when they stupidly thought you can sell Cristal like you sell Korbel.
It will be interesting to see how it goes with TW. At least they are getting the message and making some price cutbacks. And their 2019 futures prices were pretty solid.
Tom, I edited my post immediately before your most recent one with some concrete pricing examples. Agree with your comments on Big Box store, and what they do, and do not, have to offer.
100+ bottles purchased at TW in the year prior to the price changes. Currently I haven’t spent a cent in their stores in nearly 6 months.
Costco is getting most of my business.
I love how the concrete terroir shines through in Kirkland wines.