Episode 13: Building a Premium Bottle Shop, One Stone at a Time (John Clerides, Marquis Wine Cellars)

This episode is about starting and growing a premium “brick-and-mortar” retail wine shop business in a small and highly regulated market. Tania’s guest, John Clerides, is the founder and owner of Marquis Wine Cellars, located in Vancouver, British Columbia. Established more than 30 years ago, Marquis is one of British Columbia’s pre-eminent private bottle shops and offers local consumers more than 2000 wine selections from around the world, including select exclusive offerings unique to its market. Tania and John discuss the regulatory and consumer landscape which existed when Marquis first opened its doors, and where and how his business has grown from there - including aspects around “in-store” experience, building relationships, bringing in exclusive wines from around the world, utilizing a digital platform, and most importantly: the seller-customer relationship. Having travelled through many wine regions around the world, John also talks about what he finds exciting about the wine scene in Greece (as well as some practicalities around importing directly from small producers on the other side of the “Old World”). Looking back on decades-long experience as a business owner, John also shares learnings and thoughts around being an entrepreneur. No matter how successful a business is, an owner must never rest on laurels, never get complacent. There will always be business barriers to address, and things to constantly tweak and adjust. But hey, that (and the people whom we meet along the way) are the fun things driving our passion to build and keep going, right?