Siñeriz, the biggest duty free retailer in Rivera in northern Uruguay, has inaugurated a 1,500 sqm stand-alone wine and spirits store called The Siñeriz Wine Experience. Located right next to the company’s 10,000 sqm flagship store, and adjacent to the Brazilian immigrations office, the new store offers an impressive selection of wines and spirits from around the world, as well as a selection of the best food items from each of the featured countries.
The Wine Experience product range will also feature a select offer of kitchenware and other aids for professional and amateur chefs.
Company CEO Dr Gandhi Abdullah was delighted to show the store to Travel Markets Insider, “The Siñeriz Wine Experience is one of our most important developments since we opened our flagship store in August 2012 and we really believe that with the new store, we have the best duty free store selling wine and spirits in Latin America. We certainly have the best selection of wines, with more than 8,000 labels, and we have done our best to collect a great selection of food which combines very well with the wines we sell. We are also immensely proud of our selection of malt whiskies from Scotland, other whiskies from around the world as well as an exciting range of leading international spirits brands.”
Despite the food and spirits on offer, the essence of the store is overwhelmingly wine.
“We have divided the store into separate units for each country,” explains Dr. Abdullah. “Our shoppers will be able to find the best table wines from Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina, as well as an impressive range of champagnes and sparkling wines. We also have a considerable number of labels from Spain, Italy, Portugal, and France that are not available anywhere else in South America.”
The layout of The Wine Experience invites shoppers to browse and examine the labels. The well-trained staff are on hand to supply advice to shoppers needing help.
The store has incorporated the latest technology so that customers can scan their wine choices on special totems spaced throughout the store to obtain tasting notes and the latest reports from wine critics.
“Shoppers can interact with the totems and get special recommendations in accordance with their exact needs,” Dr. Abdullah tells TMI.
Once the shopper goes through the main part of the Wine Experience, he will arrive at La Cava, a 400sqm premium wine bodega. La Cava contains a special tasting area as well as a special events area, along with number of very exclusive labels stored in a special temperature-controlled environment.
“Wine connoisseurs in the area know that we have a vast selection of premium wines, and they know that the wines have been well looked after,” he notes.
The Wine Experience plans to institute a highly active promotional and tasting program which will change month by month to feature each of the wine producing countries.
“We will also have a variety of cross-promotions between categories throughout the year, which will be directed at adventurous shoppers. Wine and spirits will be promoted with ham, cheeses and chocolates, and certain products from our household goods range.
“The Wine Experience is an intrinsic part of our ongoing plan to improve the whole shopping experience for our customers. We have even more plans for later this year and we plan to offer significant improvements throughout our store,” Dr. Abdullah concludes.
John Gallagher
