'Dust gatherers' again

[eelbrook]

Forgive me if I've raised this before.

I sometimes smile wryly when I go around the whisky shops in London and see all of expensive "dust gatherers'. At each year end, they've sat on the shelf unsold for yet another twelve months.

So, what do the shops do? Well, in any normal retail environment, they'd discount the price, make a sale, free up cash, and realise a healthy margin.

Not in the London whisky shops that I visit though. Instead, they give the bottles a quick dust-down, increase the price, and put them back on the shelf. This goes on year after year.

Often these annual prices increases (of anything up to £100 a bottle) are blamed on rises in Excise Duty. This is demonstrably nonsense, as duty increases are seldom more than £1 a bottle. In any case, they're irrelevant to the 'dust gatherers', as duty was paid on them many, many years ago.

Having studied economics and assisted my daughter with her retail buying & merchandising degree, I find these whisky retailers' approach totally bewildering - especially as they must know that there are potentially customers like myself who'd buy "in a heartbeat' at an eased price.

As but one example, there's been a "Linkwood 1959" in Vintage House for three/four years. It was £315 until recently, but continued to be a 'dust gatherer'. So, did they discount it to say £280? No, they increased the price to £599. It is still there lol.

[Mark]

I believe it is the same across the country, when the expensive limited release doesnt sell for the large price tag the price often goes up. To me whisky should natuarally acquire value once it has sold out from shops and only if it is truely rare/collectable and a good whisky not when shop stock is running low.

Having said that your example of the Linkwood 1959 has pretty much sold out in shops and it has sold at auction for over £400

http://www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com/store/product/59_the-28th-auction-runs-until-sunday-august-4/19717_lot-280991-linkwood-1959-private-collection-g--m/

[eelbrook]

But if the retailer doesn't actually sell the bottle, it actually has no monetary value whatsoever to him!!! It doesn't pay for new stock, help with staff costs, or assist with the rent. All that it is doing is tying up cash.

With hindsight, I regret quoting an actual example (as to do so often leads to discussion focusing just thereon). What I would say though is that Scotch Whisky Auctions has a world-wide customer footprint (with many extremely wealthy overseas buyers on its books). Yet even there, the Linkwood 1959 only fetched £410 (some £190 less than Vintage House is asking for what will be another of its 'dust gatherers').

[Bookie]

I have noticed this, I often wonder who actually ends up buying these price inflated whiskies. I assume it will be an unknowledgeable gift buyer who will be relating price to quality when making a purchase and the retailers know there will always be a buyer who will make their choice purely on price.

[drPete]

I like the guys at the Vintage house but I wouldn't get anything out of the ordinary from them - tourist prices in some cases.
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Talisker 18 - the rest are just details

[GBrough]

Here in the states most hole in the wall liquor stores would mark it down, i always keep my eye out for a dusty bottle of old glenmorangie, laphroaig, or something hard to find within a reasonable price.
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The Laga 16.

It even tastes like an ashtray-WM

[bifter]

As long as prices are rising and they don't have cashflow issues perhaps they're happy to sit on it. If they need to free up the funds they could always discount it.

I don't like speculative pricing though, e.g. as the stocks of Mortlach are running out I'm seeing retailers charging anything up to £70 for a bottle. Goldsmiths for example usually sell at a margin on what they paid rather than the going rate.
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"Whisky is liquid sunshine."
[George Bernard Shaw]

[5-12-1908]

[bifter]

[albo]

This is a puzzeling one for me too.

I understand Bifters point that if they don't have cash flow problems the are happy to sit on the bottles, however, in reality they are making a cash loss on these bottles until they sell them, even the more afluent of businesses would struggle if they used that as a selling strategy.

If bottle A didn't sell last year for £200, is increasing it to £280 this year, really a wise move? It's certainly not an insentive for anyone to buy it. However, make space in the window and mark it down to £180, it would get snapped up much faster, alowing that £180 to be ploughed back into the business in stock which can be turned around much quicker even if it doesn't have the margin that bottle A had.

But alas 'm not in the whisky retail business nad I'm sure that after 5 years when bottle A sells for £500 they would have been vindicated with their stance.

[GBrough]

This weekend i saw a bottle of Talisker 1992 Distillers Edition for 100.00 USD, that is something i would not buy.
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The Laga 16.

It even tastes like an ashtray-WM

[bifter]

A good thread on this very topic on another forum:

http://www.*/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6702&sid=1c0414b065f4d80f4937d59c0887572e
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"Whisky is liquid sunshine."
[George Bernard Shaw]

[Alexppp]

[GBrough]