Canal’s BottleStop in Marlton has received the Market Watch Leader Award for 2011 from Market Watch magazine.
Market Watch is a leading, well-respected, trade publication for the wine, spirits, and beer-retailing industry. Canal’s is one of only five stores chosen from a national list of retailers in the wine, spirits and beer industry.
How did a privately owned liquor merchant, in the highly competitive suburban Philadelphia market, beat out a wave of increased competition to win national recognition for success? And how did they manage it in the middle of dismal economic conditions, and a traffic-snarling road-construction project that has resided at its doorstep for more than two years?
“It may sound a bit simplistic, but our success is anchored by three basic practices,” said co-owner Peter Fletcher. “Aggressive pricing, outstanding selection and superior customer service.”
“Peter Fletcher and Tom Doyle have taken on tough new competition to make Canal’s BottleStop one of New Jersey’s top destination stores,” said Marvin R. Shanken, editor and publisher of Market Watch.
In a business where 60 percent of sales derive from wine, BottleStop offers a wide selection of more than 4,500 wines ¬– ranging in price from $4.99 to $749.95 — that come from the most popular and well-respected vineyards in America and from around the world.
“We have dedicated customers who keep coming back to our store because of the trust we have developed with them through our deep knowledge of the wines we select for them,” Fletcher said. “Wines simply don’t sell themselves. Our customers trust us from previous recommendations, and that is why they keep returning.”
In addition to wine, 15 percent of BottleStop business is spirits and 25 percent beer and miscellaneous items such as soda, snacks and lottery tickets.
“The leading domestic brews remain the top sellers, but craft beers from local breweries are gaining ground,” said Tom Doyle, co-owner.
Longtime friends Peter Fletcher, a former aerospace-industry executive, and Tom Doyle, a restaurateur and operator of other non-affiliated liquor stores, have owned Canal’s for 17 years. The store is affiliated with the Canal’s network of 10 individually owned and operated stores in South Jersey.
