By WILFORD KALE, The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Virginia ABC stores in South Hampton Roads and on the Peninsula are gradually recovering from distribution problems that have caused many shelves to go bare.
“I was amazed at how many blank spaces there are on the shelves of ABC stores,” said Stephen King, owner of Ironclad Distillery in Newport News.
Distribution issues and distillery production shortages, compounded by the pandemic, have caused stores throughout the commonwealth to be lacking customers’ favorites, said Mark Dunham, chief retail operations officer for the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority in Richmond.
Inventory can vary, so shelves at one store could be out of a product while other stores have it in stock, Dunham said.
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“No two stores are alike,” he explained.
For six months starting last March, Dunham said the agency dealt with a unique shortage of more than 200 of its standard products.
“Suppliers just didn’t have product to ship to us,” he said.
Product availability has been a roller-coaster ride with supplies on the rise, then out-of-stock products spiking again at 242 after Christmas, then improving again to well under 200 at the beginning of this month, Dunham said. Since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, the number of out-of-stock products was lowest at 55 in April 2020 and reached a peak of 250 in January 2021.
The toughest time was between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, according to a number of local store managers. On Jan. 3, the ABC store in York County near the Williamsburg city limits received its largest shipment in a few weeks, an employee said.
SCARCITY OF GLASS, SHIPMENT DELAYS AFFECT INDUSTRY NATIONWIDE
Nationwide, there are several factors contributing to the liquor shortages.
“Distilled spirits have been impacted by widespread disruptions in the supply chain like other products in retail stores,” said Dawn Eischen, ABC public relations manager.
Glass bottles and raw materials are in short supply, and the trucking industry experienced its own set of challenges, she added.
“Some of ABC’s suppliers have indicated that if current sales trends, logistics challenges and the scarcity of raw materials continues, it may be mid-2022 or later before they are able to sustain inventory levels to fulfill consumer demands,” Eischen said.
Port congestion and delays in shipments led to problems securing import products that are in high demand — such as gin and scotch — Dunham said.
For example, at one Williamsburg area store shortly after Christmas, there were only eight lower-priced bottles of gin available on five shelves, each about 20 feet in length.
To exacerbate the situation, the ABC distribution process began moving products out of its new Richmond area warehouse in the late fall. “Our move in late October and early November had some issues,” Dunham said.
“As we moved, we trusted suppliers to make sure we had inventory at both locations, but it didn’t happen,” he said. “We needed to verify we had inventory and when we didn’t, it caused a lot of headaches.”
Ironclad Distillery sells two products through ABC, King said. One seemed to move without problems, but he said 650 bottles of another have been sitting in the Richmond warehouse for the past month.
“I talked to ABC folks in Richmond and they can’t explain why our product has not moved,” King said. “They’re going to check into it and we’ve been assured that the problem will be resolved.”
Chris Richeson, managing member at Chesapeake Bay Distillery in Virginia Beach, said he believes distribution to ABC stores was directly affected by the change of warehouse locations and associated logistical staffing.
But it’s the availability of glass that has caused the primary problem for Richeson’s distillery.
“Right now, we can’t make any of our flagship products. We have no bottles. We placed an order in July and have yet to receive it. Later, we placed an order for bottles from a producer here in Virginia and were supposed to get them in November or December, but the date was pushed again,” he explained. “Now, they say another three months!”
King said he knows other distilleries like Chesapeake Bay that are short on bottles. “We heard about the glass situation last year and were able to lay in a year’s supply,” he said. “But there is a shortage of corks now and even of paper that labels are made out of.”
RESTAURANTS ON THE HUNT FOR HIGH-DEMAND PRODUCTS
Demand was also a factor in liquor shortages. Purchases statewide as of Dec. 14 by ABC store licensees — restaurant and bar buyers — were up 120% over 2020, Dunham said.
Transactions weren’t necessarily up so much as calls for more premium, higher-end products that most often were not in the distribution chain, Dunham said.
Steve Smith, owner and director of operations of Opus 9 Steakhouse near Williamsburg, said the number of out-of-stock items he’s seen has been unprecedented in the past six months, but he understands that ABC store operators are likely as frustrated as anyone else. Smith, who owns multiple restaurants, said that they order a couple thousand dollars worth of products from ABC stores each week.
The restaurants regularly shop at the ABC store on Monticello Avenue near Williamsburg, but if they have trouble finding liquor products, they will also check other stores in Williamsburg, then stores in Newport News and Gloucester County, Smith said.
“If we can’t find the product at those places, then we’re out of luck,” he said.
Bob Hughes, who owns 10 restaurants with nine in Virginia Beach, said that licensees have been having trouble for months keeping their bars filled with various liquor brands. He said the restaurants offer the liquors they have, but he expects the situation to continue through 2022.
“We’ve been planning for future menus and we’re just taking a lot of liquors off them,” Hughes said. “We’re unable to prepare certain specialty drinks because the liquor is not available.”
Before placing an order or going to a store, ABC officials encourage customers to check the status of products at abc.virginia.gov or by calling their local store.
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