For Bruce Samson, Proprietor of the
Urban Wine Cellar,
which has recently relocated to 165 Fraser Street (next door to Mrs.
Riches restaurant) downtown Nanaimo is the only place to be. While his
business has moved four times over the years, he is adamant that the
best place to work, live, shop and play is in downtown Nanaimo.
DNBIA: How long have you been in business?
Bruce: It will be 23 years this October. We are the oldest “ferment on premises” business in Nanaimo.
DNBIA: Have you always been downtown?
Bruce: Yes, but not in the same location. In 1990 we opened at 45
Commercial Street and then three years later we moved across the street
to 50 Commercial because it was a substantially bigger store. We were
there twelve years but we had to move when the Conference Centre was
built. We successfully relocated to City Centre Plaza for eight years
and then we out grew that space. When we moved to our current location
six months ago, we tripled the amount of square footage from 1,100 to
3,000 square feet. I was adamant we were going to stay downtown. We
live, work and shop downtown. Downtown has always been good to me so why
would I move?
DNBIA: How many employees do you have?
Bruce: Two.
DNBIA: What motivated you to start this business?
Bruce: I made my own beer and wine at home; I started when I was in the
military. When I retired from the military and moved to Nanaimo in 1989
there were no stores to buy supplies, so that’s what prompted me to
start my own business. When we started we were only a supply shop, but
quickly turned into a “brew on premise”.
DNBIA: How did that affect your business?
Bruce: At the time, no one in the industry saw the “brew on premise”
coming. Now a day, 95% of the industry is done on premise. Originally
our business was called Brewers Wort, but since eighty percent of our
business is wine making, we rebranded so people could more easily
identify what we do here, which was ironic, because the very first
client who came in after we rebranded asked if they could make beer here
– to which I replied, of course you could. We are the only store on
the central island that produces beer on site and all the beer products
are exclusive to us.
DNBIA: Can you give a short description of your business?
Bruce: We sell products for making beer, wine, ciders and coolers, etc.,
however, our main market is we provide the facilities and equipment and
our expertise to allow you to make your product here on site. You can’t
buy a finished production for consumption here.
DNBIA: What are your hours of operation?
Bruce: We are open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and 9am to 4pm on Saturday.
DNBIA: I see other products here besides beer and wine kits, tell us about them.
Bruce: We also sell BBQs. We are the local dealer for Traegar Wood
Pellet BBQs. We believe they are the best BBQ on the market and they can
also act as a smoker. Two years ago for my birthday I bought one and I
liked it so much I took out a dealership, because what goes better with
good wine than good food! We have sold dozens of these BBQs and we are
expanding our lineup of BBQ sauces and hot sauces. Sometimes we have a
barbeque while people are bottling wine.
DNBIA: What are you best known for and why?
Bruce: I believe we are best known for customer service and quality
product. Over the years we kept growing and investing in better and
better equipment. Everything here is state of the art. We try to make
life easy for people; make the equipment easy to use and get the job
done fast and effectively. No other Ubrew on the Island has a bottle
washer or bottle fillers superior to ours and we are constantly
upgrading.
DNBIA: What sets your business aside from others in the field?
Bruce: Again, it is the quality of the product. We have an exclusive on
our beer, not on our wine though. We are not as big as some other stores
around the province, but I see that as a positive thing, because more
care is taken to ensure the quality; you get too big and things fall
through the cracks. At this size we can offer more personal hands-on
service.
DNBIA: Who are your customers?
Bruce: Our customer base is everyone. Our main customers are people 50,
60 and upwards. It is a challenge to get younger people in, they don’t
want to wait for a quality product when they can just go to a store
quickly and buy a bottle of wine. However, we believe it is the same as
the saying do you want good food or fast food? Good things take time.
Recently though we are seeing a trend with younger couples coming in as
more of them move to the downtown core.
DNBIA: What geographic region do you serve?
Bruce: They come from everywhere. I have people from Saltspring Island I
have been dealing with for 20 years. We have customers who come here
from Bowser and Port Alberni who bypass other shops who come here
because they like the quality.
DNBIA: Why should customers choose you?
Bruce: Definitely for a quality brewing experience. If you want cheap
alcohol you can brew it at home. If you want to make a hobby of it, then
do it at home. If you want to take the work out of it and enjoy a
quality product, come to us. What you are paying for is our expertise
and you can produce quality product here at one-third of the the price
of the liquor store.
DNBIA: Can you give us an anecdote that sums up what your business is all about?
Bruce: We want people to come in and have fun. At one time we even put a
tanning booth in our store, it wasn’t the right mix, but some of our
best customers originally came in for tanning. We have had brewers
forming conga lines and wine makers coming in with meat and cheese
plates to nibble on while they sample and bottle their wine. Brewing
your own beverages is about the experience. I believe that life is too
short not to be happy.
DNBIA: What do you like most about having a business in downtown Nanaimo?
Bruce: My customers. We have been blessed for 20 years with having the
best customers from all over the city. As I said earlier, I believe in
downtown, it is a wonderful place to live and I’ve been here since 1989.
I would never leave here.
DNBIA: What about your business makes you the most proud?
Bruce: Just the other day I got a card in the mail from a regular
customer thanking me for going above and beyond. Feedback like that is
very nice to get. We recently went to a military wedding, and the new
bride posted on Facebook following the wedding that she would like to
give an additional thank you to the Urban Wine Cellar for advising them
to brew their wine as early as they did, she said the wine was the best
she had ever tasted. You want people to come back because they are happy
with what they got and they have been treated fairly and with respect.
You have to treat people how you want to be treated yourself.
DNBIA: What advice would you give to a new business starting out in downtown Nanaimo?
Bruce: Best thing I would say is stay calm, don’t expect success over
night, give good customer service, keep fair pricing and smile.