For Small Business Week, we tapped into our own community and interviewed the owner of one of our favorite McKinney small businesses, McKinney Wine Merchant. He offers insights into competing with big box stores and how a genuine interaction with customers keeps them coming back week after week.<\/p>\n
Business name:<\/strong> McKinney Wine Merchant<\/p>\n Owner\u2019s name:<\/strong> Andy Doyle<\/p>\n Number of employees:<\/strong> 1; just him<\/p>\n Hours of operation:<\/strong> 11-9 Tuesday-Saturday; 12-4 Sunday; Closed Monday<\/p>\n Years\u00a0in business:<\/strong> Five<\/p>\n Q: Why did you open the McKinney Wine Merchant? <\/strong> Q: What makes you unique? <\/strong> Q: How did you get the word out when you first opened? <\/strong> Q: How do people usually find out about your business? <\/strong> Q: What does your online strategy look like? <\/strong> Q: What are some of the struggles you face as a small business owner? <\/strong> Q: How do you compete with bigger box stores? <\/strong> Q: What advice do you have for other small business owners? <\/strong> For Small Business Week, we tapped into our own community and interviewed the owner of one of our favorite McKinney […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-realtime"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n“I lost my job in 2010 and saw there was an opportunity in downtown McKinney.\u201d There was a wine store in Plano that he visited all the time, but when it went out of business, Andy saw his chance to open a wine store on the square in downtown McKinney.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI\u2019m selling things people are unfamiliar with to make them comfortable with the wines. There are wines out there that are tricks and I don\u2019t do them. I\u2019m a very honest wine store.\u201d He doesn\u2019t sell brands you\u2019d typically find in grocery stores. He sells \u201creal wines,\u201d each tasted and approved by his expert palette. Here are an astounding 225 wines in the store.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cFacebook and put together an email list. The first year was just text emails through Outlook. Putting out lame emails had me putting out fewer emails. I put more lights out front [of the store] and had the door open when the weather was good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWord of mouth is by far the biggest way. I\u2019ve also done some print and some radio.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWhen I named the store, part of the thinking was to be at the top of the search results. I get about 50-80 views per month on Yelp. Out of that I will about 8-10 interactions per month. I have great Facebook and Yelp reviews.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe ever changing environment. I can\u2019t offer coupons.\u201d TABC prohibits coupons for the purchase of liquor. \u201cI can\u2019t do fun promotions or discretionary discounts. Any tasting has to be done during ordinary business hours.\u201d He can\u2019t host after-hours tastings or happy hours or even on-site glasses of wine. Additionally, there are some big box stores very close by that have taken some of his sales: Trader Joe\u2019s, Total Wine and even direct sales. But his business keeps growing.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIgnore them and do my own thing. I\u2019ll select a few popular SKUs and get a competitive wholesale price on them and lowball them [the big box stores].\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIf you\u2019re interacting with people, they really respond to a genuine personality that\u2019s not rehearsed. People know that at my stores it\u2019s a very genuine and honest approach. It\u2019s the sort of store I\u2019d want to shop at. No one could ever accuse me of stickin\u2019 it to them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"