Spirited start to exclusive beer shop

Chennai: In line with beer and wine shops of Bengaluru, Chennai will soon sport exclusive beer shops across the city, thanks to the new initiative of the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac). As a trial run, the corporation opened its first exclusive beer sales outlet in Nungambakkam which will stock over 30 brands in giant refrigerators. “Apart from all the 20-25 fast moving brands, the shops will also stock international brands including Heineken and Corona. We will soon be adding a couple of more foreign brands,” said Tasmac MD Mr T. Soundiah.

As the city palates are yet to develop a taste for wines, for now, these shops will only be selling beers, he said adding that these will be purely sales outlet with no bar facilities. Akin to Elite shops, which became an instant hit across the middle and upper class segment of buyers, the corporation is hoping a new stream of revenue through such exclusive outlets that are being set up at a cost of Rs 20 lakh each.  

“Every beer outlet will have five giant refrigerators that can stock up to 1,000 bottles of chilled beer at any point of time and will sell the brands at no extra cost,” the Tasmac MD said.  
Though beer accounts only for Rs 2,000 crore sales of the overall Rs 25,000 crore annual sales of Tasmac, the corporation is keen to open such exclusive format shops “in the hope of targeting a new segment”. To begin with, the corporation hopes to rake in a monthly sale of 20 lakh cases at beer outlets.  

The corporation is scouting for “ideal locations” to open more such shops across the city and between elite shops and beer outlets, it hopes to open at least 20 more new outlets to offset its revenue loss during last fiscal.