Derventio Wines has opened a second shop in Malton, North Yorkshire.
Alexandra Danson is the sixth generation to work in the business. “Both my brother and I joined the company in 2022,” she says, “and he is working on the wholesale side. The new shop in Malton is my stamp on things. Every generation has its own thing. My grandfather set it up as a beer business and my dad brought the wine to it and this is my iteration.”
The company, established in 1888, was originally known as Tate-Smith and didn’t have a retail arm until 14 years ago when Paul Tate-Smith opened Derventio Wines at the warehouse premises at Castlegate.
Danson says: “The original shop is attached to the warehouse, which is a bit off the beaten track. We’ve tried loads of different ways of advertising it. I’ve done leaflet drops, I’ve had market stalls … you name it, I’ve tried it. But nothing was really sticking when it came to growing our retail customer base, so I thought we should maybe get a shop in the town.”
Danson dipped her toe in the water with a pop-up shop in the heart of Malton last August. She’s remained in the premises on a more permanent footing but is ultimately looking for something in the town with a bit more space.
“We’ve been received really well, and I’ve got a nice number of regulars,” she says. “We find we sell different wine here than we do at the other shop. People will buy maybe a couple of bottles, whereas at the other shop, it was more like, ‘oh, I’ll come in and buy a couple of cases’. It’s a quite different sort of market and the average bottle spend is higher at the new shop.
“One of the core things that I’m trying to implement in the business is sustainability, and with that in mind I have a refill station here too. There’s definitely two camps: people that absolutely are all over it and think it’s brilliant, and the people who are a bit sceptical, but I’ve learned ways to win them around.
“On Fridays and Saturdays I have samples open, and recently I’ve put the refill wines on as samples so that the white and rosé is chilled, and people have really liked it.”
