Are you attempting to locate a business that won’t be badly affected by the present economic downturn? You should be! So, allow me a moment to share an important piece of advice with you.

Buy a liquor store.

Liquor stores are incredibly recession-proof, maybe even more than any other kind of retail business. With smart management on your part, you can generate strong sales from your liquor store, even in difficult times.

People will keep on buying alcoholic beverages, even in difficult times. Liquor sales remained strong in the recession of the mid-1980s, and they are holding quite strong in the current climate. People still regularly buy wine, liquor and beer, even when times become really tough. But let me put forth the following consideration:

Currently, people are spending carefully. The days are gone (or at the very least, they’re on hold) when most consumers would think nothing of paying $40, $50 or more for a bottle of wine to go with their evening meal, but don’t worry, that trend positions you to keep your profits strong, because:

The liquor business allows you to adjust and adapt to customer purchasing patterns. You can stock a wide variety of excellent low cost products that today’s customers really want. If you’re an imaginative merchandiser, you can stock your stores with an innovative array of lower-cost wines, beers and other alcoholic beverages, ensuring your customers get good value for their money and never feel deprived. After all is said and done, they can keep having fun with the adventure of buying and drinking new products, while saving money as well! Just remember that you need to shop carefully for these products, while remembering to:

Dramatically increase your profits with inexpensive, effective marketing. You can receive a $30 profit on a case of inexpensive priced Chilean wines, vs. $10 on just one bottle of more costly French wine - and the marketing expenses are identical for both selections! With good quality low-priced marketing (through sales flyers in community newspapers, or via an email newsletter that you send out to your preferred customers), you can sell quite a bit more products in these difficult times. Your customers will value you as an individual and the superb value which you deliver. You can easily increase your perceived value even more by implementing this next strategy:

Use top notch service and advice to maximize your sales. More customers today are searching around for alcoholic beverages that are low cost, yet still great quality. (This can be summed up with the simple word, “Value.”) This spells opportunity for you, the new owner of a liquor store. You can study wine yourself, hire top notch salespeople or just order selectively from the low cost wines that you see listed in popular trade magazines. Just don’t forget to lure in customers with some creative marketing strategies, such as sending your customers classy email newsletters that include specific discounts for selected products.

There are no small retailers, only retailers with small ideas! If you’re looking for a flexible, resilient business that will bring in solid profits in the current recession, and make even more money when the current recession goes away - look no further than a liquor store!

Richard Parker is the author of the How to Buy a Good Business at a Great Price series. As President and founder of Diomo Corporation - The Business Buyer Resource Center, his materials, seminars and consulting have helped thousands of business buyers realize their dream of buying a business.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 11:52 am and is filed under Business and Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.