After Roof Collapse, Winchester Wine & Spirits Has Rebounded

After a string of bad luck that nearly shut down the business, is on its way back. 

“We were three days from closing the doors,” said owner James Alexander, recounting the events that lead to a near shut-down. 

In January, the roof of the building suffered major damage from the onslaught of heavy snowstorms, and most of the damage was not covered by insurance. As the snow built up in January, Alexander dispatched teams onto the roof to clear the roof, but the snow kept coming. The store had 20 separate floods.

“Rain started pouring in. We’re looking into the sky, so much water was coming down,” Alexander said. “There were 47 different holes.  The roof looked like Swiss cheese.”

There was damage to the entire back half of the store, 5,000 square feet. Over half their inventory of wine and beer was destroyed. The store no longer had enough inventory to bring in customers and many stopped coming, at a time when sales were already down due to the poor economy.

But that wasn’t all: one after another, things continued to go wrong. The store’s computer systems were damaged by the water and crashed. Alexander had to buy all new computers for $25,000.

On top of that, a data entry error at their credit card company sent much-needed credit card sales money to a different store. It took 13 days to straighten that out, and longer to get the money back. On the heels of the credit card snafu, the store’s bank account was hacked and they were forced to sort that out and change banks.

Alexander was using his personal credit cards to pay for things the business needed.He went to dozens of banks but couldn’t get a business loan despite good credit and years of paying bills on time.

By late May, Alexander said, the store was on the verge of shutting down. He had been forced to lay off five employees. Though they had managed to pay all their bills up to that point, Alexander could no longer see a way through the crisis. 

Then, one Monday, a private financier came in to buy some wine and noticed the low inventory. He called Alexander the next day to find out what was going on, and they arranged to meet for coffee on Wednesday.

“We cut a deal the next morning, and we had 1,000 cases of liquor delivered on Friday,” Alexander said. The deal with the financier was possible, he said, because “he knew us and he believed in us.”

Nine weeks later, sales are up 225 percent. Most of the building repairs have been completed. The store’s inventory is on its way back to a normal level. They’ve hired back four more employees, bringing the current staff total to nine, plus Alexander. And, after having to be closed on Sundays due to costs, they are back open seven days a week now.

Alexander knows he wouldn’t have been able to make it through this tough time without the support of his employees or the loyalty of his customers. He credits the people of Winchester with keeping the store going.

“We still had customers who came in and bought stuff, and you knew they didn’t need it, it wasn’t what they usually bought, but they knew we needed the help,” Alexander said.

Now he has plans to repay everyone and to continue the store’s mission of giving back to the community. On top of that, he’s not satisfied just to have the business back on track; he has plans for expansion in 2012. He’s working on opening more stores. He’s also got a wholesale license and an import license in the works. In addition, he has plans to buy the building he’s currently leasing.

Looking back, Alexander has learned some lessons on getting through hard times: “Dig down a little deeper,” he said, “Never give up. Never surrender.”