00:00Hey, talk to us, though, about the environment before we get into the summer season, what people are interested in
00:06terms of wines and spirits.
00:07But talk to us about the consumer, what you guys are seeing.
00:10Yeah, well, you know, I was the other day just visiting one of our wine suppliers, and he was saying
00:15that it cost him over $2,000 more just to get a container of wine here into the U.S.
00:21right now.
00:22And that's, you know, just one part of the whole transportation piece, you know, for getting wine into our wine
00:28stores.
00:29Wow. So you couple that with actually selling the wine in a time when we're hearing more and more about
00:36young people not drinking as much, this idea of, like, you know, dry January actually lasting the entire year.
00:43What does that mean for the overall business?
00:46Well, you know, you also see customers here on the store, and I was just talking to a lady the
00:49other day who was just talking about how much more it costs her to fill up her huge, you know,
00:54van that she drives with all her kids in the back.
00:56So, you know, everyone here on the store floor is definitely feeling it.
01:00I think one good thing, and I was hearing all the stock prices before, but about being a family business
01:05is that we can, you know, work with our suppliers and hold those costs.
01:10In a lot of instances, we'll split, you know, that transportation cost with our suppliers so we can keep prices
01:15here on our store floor family-friendly.
01:19And you guys have not yet seen price increases, my understanding is, due to fuel, correct?
01:24Yes, we have not.
01:25You know, here in the wine business, as you started off with the tariffs, that was big last year.
01:30And for this year, really no one wants to raise the price of wine right now.
01:35And I always look, this is a great new rosé that just came in, it's a new fresh vintage, but,
01:41you know, we're retailing this under $15.
01:43And if I were to go and sell it over $15, what happens to sales is they go down.
01:48So you really have to be price sensitive with those barriers there, and we look at it as hopefully a
01:54temporary thing, and, you know, trying to look at the longer picture.
01:58Is the idea on it with a product like that, and if, you know, if I'm thinking about margins correctly,
02:03that you take a little bit of a hit there, but you get people in the store to buy that,
02:06and then they buy other things that don't have as big, that have bigger margins?
02:11Yes.
02:11Well, and one of the things that I love doing is, I'm like a little, you know, wine detective out
02:16there, but I love going, every year we go to a wine show, either in Paris or in Italy.
02:21And we get to meet firsthand with a lot of these multi-generational families who are making unbelievable wine, and
02:28we get to bring them back and sell them in our stores.
02:30And really, they're wines that over-deliver for the price, and we often say they taste like they're twice the
02:37price.
02:37So really trying to bring not only the price point, but also the story back for our customers, because we
02:43think that now more than ever, that's what customers want to hear about.
02:46So I'm always amazed, like when you're over in Europe or Paris, and you just order, I don't know, just
02:52a little wine, nothing big, and it's just great.
02:54Like, I feel like over the years, and you know this industry, Blake, it just feels like, you know, we
03:01keep getting told, you don't have to spend a lot of money to get a great bottle of wine.
03:05Yeah.
03:06No, you don't.
03:07And, you know, right here, this is a Corsican rosé that I have, and this is also one of our
03:14best sellers.
03:14It's a Provence rosé, under $15, a female winemaker.
03:18She won the top 100 winemaker, you know, one of the top 100 winemakers in the world.
03:23She was awarded a couple years ago.
03:25So there's great value out there.
03:27You do have to, you know, spend time looking for it, but that's what we really strive to do for
03:31our customers here on the store floor, as well as educate them.
03:34So let's talk a little bit about the next generation of Stu Leonard's and sort of the timeline for you
03:39and your cousin taking over.
03:41And also, I'm curious about, with a background in wine and spirits, what you can then do in your approach
03:48to the grocery business, a historically low-margin business, a very challenging business that, you know, you have to work
03:54with the ups and downs of the economy and the macroeconomic environment.
03:57What is your plan for Stu Leonard's when you take it over?
04:01You know, yesterday, all of my cousins and my dad, you know, it was work, but we got to spend
04:05the day all together in the city listening to other family businesses talk.
04:09And it was a really awesome day.
04:11But one of the biggest takeaways I had listening to Jim Perdue speak, and we got to meet him afterwards,
04:18and hearing Enterprise as well and Panda Express, they all stick to their core values.
04:24So no matter what happens is sticking to their core values.
04:28And when I look back at our business today, you know, I grew up drinking milk from Stu's, and my
04:33kids today, they're also drinking milk from Stu's, but it's organic.
04:37And so, you know, if we had 20 years ago tried selling organic milk, it would have been way too
04:42expensive to really, for our customers at that time.
04:45But we've evolved, and so it's kind of just a slow evolution over time.
04:50And that's, you know, one of the things that always sticks out to me is that my kids are drinking
04:54organic cold milk now.
04:56Blake, I just want to mention, we have a headline crossing from Reuters.
04:59SpaceX picks the NASDAQ as its listing venue for its massive upcoming IPO.
05:05On that, do you guys ever think about going public?
05:10We've definitely had offers, and we have, you know, offers either go into partnerships or to be purchased.
05:16And it's always something we think about, because in my generation, it went from four in my dad's generation now
05:23to over 13 of us.
05:25And now in the fourth generation, there's over 22 great grandkids.
05:30So it's definitely something we always think about.
05:32But really, what we want, and, you know, my cousins and I all just met recently to talk about this,
05:37is we really want to keep this a family business and want to continue.
05:40You know, the decisions we get to make every day are really, you know, ones that we don't have to
05:46rely on anyone else for that.
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