BevMo!

BevMo! offers more than 3000 types of wines, 1500 types of spirits, and 1200 types of beers. Most BevMo! stores cater to the community by having weekly beer and wine tasting for a nominal charge, in line with state law, to any consumer of legal age. Because the vast majority of products within the stores are alcoholic, one must be either over the age of 21 or with an adult over the age of 25 in order to enter the store. The Arizona stores accept unexpired identification from all US states, military IDs, passports and Mexico and Canada IDs. ==History==

The corporation was founded by Steve Boone and Steve McLaren in January 1994, calling itself Beverages & More!, based in Concord, California. Later, a company executive would say of this period, "we almost went broke. We tasted success and then expanded too quickly". but Sobel was sued a year later by Beverages & More! for trademark infringement under ICANN jurisdiction. The decision set a precedent that has since been quoted by complainants in cybersquatting cases to show that a domain name matching a trademark, one held by other than the trademark holder, "is evidence of bad faith registration and use". Earlier, consumers had been calling the chain "BevMo" as a nickname; as a result, the corporation registered the domain www.bevmo.com in August 2000. In January 2001, the company officially launched the new website and formally adopted the nickname as their brand. In February 2007, BevMo! was acquired by TowerBrook Capital Partners, L.P., a New York- and London-based private equity firm. With the acquisition, Bannus Hudson retired as CEO—to replace him, TowerBrook brought in Jim Simpson. Johnson, a native of Australia, was initially hired as a consultant by TowerBrook to assess BevMo! as an acquisition, and he "fell in love with the company"; by November he was reportedly driving a black BMW with a personalized license plate reading "I ♥ BEVMO" ("I [heart] BevMo"). In September 2009, Johnson reported annual sales of the 1,600-employee company to be "well over" $500 million—a record year. Torrance Mayor Frank Scotto was pleased; he said the chain's first store in Torrance was "a huge success" Not all BevMo! expansion has been welcomed by city residents. In March 2010 in Santa Barbara, California, a group voiced opposition at a city board meeting, delaying approval of a BevMo! store. Concerns brought up at the meeting included complaints about the company's plans to cut down a tree in the parking lot, and about loading dock plans that would increase congestion in a narrow alley. The city's Architectural Board of Review member Paul Zink recommended against BevMo!'s plans to have pedestrians cross a parking lot to enter the store, saying that "there's a tie-in between what's inside and the street". Zink continued, "here in Santa Barbara, we like to window shop." ==In-house scoring==

BevMo! employs Wilfred Wong, an expert taster and wine competition judge, who assigns bottles a wine rating based on his own version of Robert M. Parker, Jr.'s 50–100-point system. Wong, a veteran industry analyst and wine writer who has written regular columns for Vineyard & Winery Management magazine and Beverage Industry News, tastes some 8,000 bottles a year for BevMo!, and may taste 40 wines a day. A San Francisco native and resident who grew up working in his family's upscale grocery store in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, Wong was hired to work for BevMo! in 1995, when they had six stores. Wong made assurances that he does not treat a wine to a good score based on company founders' wishes. Wong reports only to Richards, to keep him from being influenced by wine sellers or BevMo!'s own buyers. Richards said, "we have to give him independence within the organization." Wong reports that his system is aimed at the taste of the consumer rather than at that of the intellectual, unlike Parker's system which is more cerebral. One of the differences, said Wong, is that Parker may give a "fruitful" wine 88 points when Wong will give it 92, noting that it may be well-made for its varietal. He reports that he has only given two wines a score of 100, one a 1990 Montrachet from Domaine Ramonet-Prudhon and the other a late 1990s vintage from Opus One. His personal favorites to drink are French wines such as second- and third-growth Bordeaux reds, and California Pinot noir from the Russian River Valley. Other wines he likes include Chenin blanc from the Loire Valley, Pinot gris from Alsace, high-end Chardonnay from Australia and various biodynamic wines. Wong publishes his thoughts about wine regularly on "Wilfred's Blog", hosted on the company website; a forum that he uses to name his current favorites and to recommend wine and food pairings. ==Awards==

• 2008 The Tasting Panel "Lifetime Achievement Award" • 2006 Wine Enthusiast "Retailer of the Year" ==References==