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Today's home entertainers would be remiss if they planned the perfect party only to set the tone of the evening by starting out with a bowl of chips and a cocktail served in an everyday tumbler. It's up to you to make sure these entertainment faux pas don't occur to customers on your shift.



Setting the Scene

We all know home entertaining is a trend with no signs of diminishing. Stocking the bar is the first requirement for the perfect cocktail party, so it's easy to understand why bar accessories are a hot, growing category in a variety of retail outlets.

Today's hosts want to stock their bars with all the right glasses, garnishes, and accessories. Illustrate your ability to satiate every niche of the cocktail party with creative displays incorporating garnishes, bar snacks, stirrers, cocktail napkins, trays, bar tools, bar guides, stylishly fun glasses, and even a manual juicer. Your interpretation of the perfect party can stimulate ideas in every potential host who walks your aisles.

A report from Riedel Marketing Group for the International Housewares Association describes the target customer for barware as predominantly female, 35 to 54 years old, with an income greater than $55,000.

Emily Halyburton, wine manager for Reid's Uptown Market, concentrates her hard goods inventory on wine accessories since the Charlotte, N.C.-based specialty food store stocks its own wine.

"We carry a wide selection of corkscrews, from standard waiter's corkscrews to winged corkscrews to specialty items such as the Screwpulls, as well as those from Metrokane. Cork Pops are another popular purchase in the store," she explained. "A surprise for me in this category are the 'picnic' corkscrews and the 'winged' ones, which I feel are the absolute worst for opening bottles. I suspect the picnics are popular because they are the least expensive, and we have lots of out-of-towners who don't pack their openers with them — for shame."

"In nine out of ten complaints I receive about broken openers or difficulties in opening a bottle, the culprit is the winger. For me personally, after waiting tables on and off for 10 years, I stick with the waiters, though I have spoiled myself with the purchase of a Laguiole. I recommend them to customers because they fit well in the pocket or purse, also serve as bottle openers, and with a little practice, using them is nearly foolproof."

One of the best-selling items at Reid's is Wine Away, a red wine stain remover. Halyburton keeps a bottle behind the counter and uses it constantly during tastings. Customers are sold with the first demonstration. "I recommend one for the car (for restaurant accidents), one at home, and one at the dry cleaner's," she explained.

As Reid's loyal customers demonstrate, anything wine related has been garnering consumer interest now for a few years. Today, retailers and manufacturers are noticing that narrow focus spreading out to encompass other cocktail categories and accessories which lend a sense of style to entertaining.

The NPD HomeTrak service illustrates barware's rise by comparing point-of-sales tracking for the first eight months of 2001. Barware sales increased nearly 11 percent in dollars compared to the same period in 2000, while stemware figures rose 0.7 percent for the same period.

"The demand for barware accessories — from glasses to tools — hasn't been this good in years! Every member who has anything that can fit into the overall barware category is seeing rapid growth in sales of such products," said Tony DeMasi, executive director for the National Tabletop & Gift Association. "High on the list are sleek, sophisticated-looking bottle openers, bar knives, and corkscrews packed together or apart. Sales of coasters are soaring. Popular designs run the gamut from cute to classic, comic to crass. There's definitely a market for everything."

Taking Stock

Everything bar related means just that — everything. Still, you have to have a sense of style and quality when selecting items for your inventory. Consumers desire retro and kitschy items, as well as classically designed barware.

In consumer shopping magazine Lucky's November issue, a two-page spread dedicated to barware displayed everything from jalapeño-stuffed olives to plastic monkeys that can hang by their tails from glass rims to Playboy Bunny olive picks.

L.A. gift store Zipper Art, Form + Function, one of the featured retailers in the spread, noted the popularity of cocktail recipe books, highlighting Tiki Drinks by Adam Rocke. Manager Kerry Dalton said all of the store's cocktail cookbooks are hot sellers.

"We have Tiki Drinks and serious bar books such as The American Bar. These are great sellers. The newest one selling really well is The Savoy Cocktail Book. It's an updated version of the original book from the 1930s."

It seems anything vintage sells well at Zipper. Dalton said anything with a retro, "hipster" feel attracts consumer attention. Fast-moving glassware includes martinis and DOFs, most with a fashionable edge such as bases in kaleidoscope colors. Olive picks, vintage cocktail shakers, and any style swizzle stick also make their way to the register on a daily basis.

"Ice buckets are making a serious comeback," DeMasi said. "The same can be said for pâté knives — also known as spreaders. Ditto for cheese boards, cheese knives, and cutting boards. Demand for canapé plates can't be far behind."

The advanced home-based bartender is also going for cocktail shakers, strainers, stirrers, long-handled spoons, jiggers, and citrus juicers. Cocktail shakers are the real movers and shakers in this set.

Vicky Flaws, manager of Ames, Iowa-based Cook's Emporium, is experiencing the same martini passion. Her customers are entertaining with martini glasses and bar tool collections.

"The tools sell well, especially the five-piece cocktail sets which see a high demand during the fourth quarter," she explained. "What really sells well for us are the cocktail recipe books. We have several that see consistent sales."

Speaking of consistency, anything wine related sells well at Cook's Emporium. From wine coolers to bottle stoppers to champagne openers, wine accessories top her customers' shopping lists.

"Gem Ware is a great item in our store. They are stemware tags with a magnetic ball at the end so that they pull together rather than being hooked," Flaws said. "We chose those because we thought it would be easier to hook them on a glass so there's less spillage that way. It's an impulse buy and makes a great hostess gift with a bottle of wine."

Diana Gribble, housewares manager for Austin, Texas-based Breed & Company, said her customers are also stocking their bars with martini sets and wine charms.

"The bar and stemware departments are very active," Gribble said. "We have expanded our wine glass line to accommodate growing demand. Wine charms are the fastest-selling items. It's unbelievable. We've sold a truckload of them. Coasters also sell really well and if there's any sort of new gadget, our customers want it. New gadgets are always popular and it's always fun explaining them to people. We show them how they work and before you know it, they realize they need these new items they hadn't even heard about before they walked in the store. This category almost sells itself."

Of course, nothing really sells itself. Much of the sales credit goes to Gribble's merchandising abilities. Throughout the store, she develops story vignettes to feed demand for the categories that fall under barware. A large martini display includes olives, onions, and all the accoutrements for building the perfect martini, including pitchers, shakers, and ice buckets.

As for glass barware, everything is selling well — especially double old fashions and martini glasses. Irish coffee mugs are seeing an increase in year-round sales, too. From cut crystal to machine-made glassware, the market is strong and becoming stronger. To fortify sales, retailers have to not only supply the right merchandise, but also be ready to show and tell consumers which glasses are appropriate for which drinks.

Cocktail Lessons

Spark sales with wine enthusiasts and create new cocktail gurus by establishing yourself as an authority in the barware business. Design classes and tastings that provide customers with the opportunity to learn more about proper glass usage or planning the perfect cocktail party. Host a party of your own for "preferred customers" and bring out all the toys from cocktail picks and decanters to cocktail shakers and shot glasses.

"Just about every manufacturer of barware glasses has educational literature available. Retailers must read it," DeMasi said. "The return of barware business has reopened wonderful marketing possibilities for retailers. Consumers are thirsty for knowledge of how to use everything they can possibly want or need. Vendors can supply some data, but to really dazzle consumers, retailers should hold in-store mixology classes."

Create a session in conjunction with a local restaurant or an upscale watering hole. Holding class outside the retail shop can help you avoid any legal technicalities as far as serving liquor. A local caterer or even a local bartending school can also provide bartending services. Be sure to check local liquor laws before opening the class to the public. While many communities allow alcoholic beverages to be served as long as there is no charge, it's better to play it safe. Your local liquor store may be another resource. By partnering with the shop owner, you can tap into his contacts with liquor sales representatives who may supply the class for you complete with instructions for a shot at free publicity. Serve up snack mixes, create great garnishes, and include sessions on how to properly care for barware to round out a perfect class.

Reid's has its own wine club and 7th Street Wine Bar where special monthly events are held. Members are also offered a 10 percent discount on wine accessories throughout the year.

Special events include an October series hosted by Kimberly Sanford of The London Wine Man. The series explored wines from each of California's major growing areas. Designed for beginners and aficionados, Sanford demonstrated wine-tasting techniques and explained the importance of growing the right grape in the right place. Six to eight wines were tasted each night, providing an opportunity to cross-merchandise wines, stemware, and the proper accoutrements. The specialty food and wine store also hosted a Riedel tasting in December.

"Our emphasis is on wine accessories and stemware. We do a lot of business with Riedel stemware as we feel these are the best glasses for enjoying wine. During our annual Riedel tasting, attendees walk away with a new appreciation for the glasses, as well as four of them to take home!" stated Halyburton.

In addition to the wine tastings, members of Reid's Wine Club are offered events such as the Nickel and Nickel Dinner. Held at a local restaurant, guests sample single-vineyard Cabernets from Far Niente's Nickel and Nickel label. Wine enthusiasts aren't the only customers celebrated at Reid's. The store also merchandises "Beers of the Month." October's specials included the latest Oktoberfest beers from Harpoon, Spaten, Samuel Adams, and Saranac, as well as Rogue's Dead Guy Ale Glow in dark bottles for Halloween.

To enthuse customers about barware, your employees have got to grasp the tools. Gribble gives employees instructions on each new item as it's introduced. At Breed & Company's two locations, it's the employees who make the sales and get consumers excited about new gadgets.

"We provide training seminars to staff so they can all explain product. Our employees aren't departmentalized — everyone works all over the store, so we all need to know how things work," she explained. "We do like to demonstrate some of the more mechanical type of merchandise we sell."

Tequila Sunrise

Tomorrow's featured cocktail? Who knows, but some production styles like lead crystal are gaining market share.

DeMasi cautions that with renewed consumer interest may come the topic of leaded crystal leaching lead into the beverage. Although the chances of lead from crystal ever contaminating the drink are extremely remote, it is nonetheless an issue that should be addressed.

"If the customer is really concerned about it, the retailer should steer the shopper towards nonlead merchandise," DeMasi concluded.

Another high-impact design element is plasticware. The quality of plastic (acrylic and other material) glassware has improved so significantly in recent years that some consumers may at first mistake the products for glass. Add that to this year's new design introductions and you have a style worth watching. These products provide an opportunity to extend home entertainment inside and outside the house without the worry of fine crystal glassware being lost to a partygoer's mishap.

Gribble said acrylics are selling well already in her store. She's intrigued by new designs on the horizon.

She explained, "People are always looking for something different and we pride ourselves on being ahead of the competition, so we work hard to keep all the designs and styles fresh."

The big move for this category of barware will probably happen next summer. For the time being, the real thing is bringing in real business. Cheers!