Bay of Plenty, 18 April 2006 - The first branch of The Warehouse Cellars opens inside the Fraser Cove store of The Warehouse at 10am today, which is good news for Bay of Plenty residents looking for an extensive range of beer and wine at competitive prices.
The Warehouse Cellars is an associated company of The Warehouse Group Limited, and branches will be situated inside The Warehouse stores. The next branch will be situated inside The Warehouse Extra in Auckland. As well as The Warehouse Cellars, the 12,500m store will offer a fresh food offer, a bakery, a café and an in-store pharmacy. Located in a landmark retail development at Sylvia Park, The Warehouse Extra will be the first store to offer a full non-food and food offer all under one roof.
Cynthia Church, spokesperson for The Warehouse Cellars, says that opening the first branch is an exciting step in the development of both companies. “We’re looking forward to offering customers a new option when they’re looking for beer and wine. We have over 250 different products in our wine range, including leading brands such as Kim Crawford, Huntaway and Leeward Landing, and of course all the leading beer brands will be stocked as well.”
An important part of The Warehouse Cellars’ philosophy is helping customers decide which wine to buy for each occasion. “It can be daunting trying to figure out which wine goes best with which food, so at The Warehouse Cellars all our wine is labelled with ‘descriptors’ to outline the type of wine and the food it suits. We want to make shopping easy for our customers,” says Ms. Church.
There will be regular wine tastings where customers can have their questions answered by wine experts. The opening week will see some first-rate deals throughout The Warehouse Cellars, and it’s not only for wine buffs as there will be great value specials on leading beer brands.
The Warehouse Cellars has been established as a responsible retailer, and will be asking for proof of ID from anyone who appears to be under the age of 25. The licence restrictions in place for The Warehouse Cellars require that customers under 18 can only enter if accompanied by a parent or legal guardian, so the team will be checking this with shoppers as they enter.
The Warehouse Cellars branch opens at 10am on Tuesday 18 April, and opening hours from Wednesday 19 April onwards will be 8:30am to 8pm.
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For further information please contact Cynthia Church, Corporate Affairs Manager, The Warehouse Group, 09 488 3255 or 021 433 284.
Background information on Warehouse Cellars
The Warehouse Cellars is an associated company of The Warehouse Group Limited. It is a joint venture between The
Warehouse Group and business partner Reliance Wines Ltd. Reliance Wines is owned by Ed and Barbara Aster. Ed
Aster is joined as a Director of The Warehouse Cellars by independent director Laurie Doolan. Directors representing
The Warehouse Group are CEO Ian Morrice, CFO Luke Bunt, GM Commercial Development John Journee, GM Business
Development Phil Jamieson, and Director of Operations Richard Lewis.
Background information on The Warehouse
The Warehouse Group had sales of $NZ2.203 billion and profit of $NZ39.0 million for the year ended 31st July 2005.
The Warehouse Group comprises 85 Warehouse NZ stores and 43 Warehouse Stationery stores. The Warehouse
Group employs more than 9,000 people across New Zealand.
