Today we’d like to introduce you to Ann Williams.
Ann, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up on a small family farm in North Dakota, which was pretty fair training for working in retail. Baling hay in the heat of summer or bottle-feeding ‘orphan’ lambs around the clock makes a 10 hour retail shift look like a walk in the park!
I attended boarding school and college in New England, married a Rhode Island native, and stuck around. I put my liberal arts education to good use over 20+ years in distribution and import wine sales. In order to do that job effectively, you need to know how to communicate, but also have a thorough understanding of history, geography, and culture. Probably a little psychology, too!
I worked for some wonderful companies, traveled, and met some truly fascinating people. But every company I worked for had the same dichotomy: there were products that the sales and marketing staff considered the ‘best’, usually small, family-owned producers, and then there were the items we were required to sell to keep our jobs. If you drew this as a Venn diagram, these two groups almost never intersected. We spent all our time and energy on the national brands, because their marketing muscle made them more important to the bottom line. The wines we loved would be ignored, and then offered to the staff at closeout pricing.
This struck me as ironic-doesn’t the general public deserve to drink as well as wine professionals do? When the travel started to wear on me, I decided to start a business that would concentrate on high-quality, reasonably-priced wines, plus craft beer and unusual spirits.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Any small business owner who tells you it is a smooth road is either lying or suffering from amnesia. The sheer volume of paperwork, regulations, and other red tape related to running an alcoholic beverages business is daunting-and I came from another sector of the beverage business!
On another note, I could not possibly have anticipated the important role craft beer has played in our growth. We always intended to carry a selection of craft and imported beers, but were a little overwhelmed by the demand and the constantly evolving brands and selections. I had an amateur’s love for good beer, but needed to learn a LOT quickly. I went to a lot of beer tastings, read several books, and leaned heavily on all my beer geek friends.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
The Pour Richard’s motto is ‘Never Drink Ordinary’. We think our customers are extraordinary, so why should they drink the same old stuff you see in ‘ordinary’ stores? We define ourselves by what we don’t have as much as what we do have: almost no nationally advertised brands, but a well-edited selection of small producers who offer exceptional quality at prices that are usually below what you’d pay for a ‘brand’. Because these are not familiar names, we also offer the personal service to help you select something that is right for you. We are actually known for taking a product out of a customer’s hands-‘No, that’s not the style you like at all. You should try this instead.’
We like to express a little humor in our marketing. Our gin is displayed in a clawfoot tub, our bargain bin is an old rowboat. We store Sherries and dessert wines in a roll top desk. We hand-write the product tags, and occasionally come up with some hilarious descriptions.
We have a strong belief in the value of tasting, so we always – every day! – have wines open to try. We also host larger events on a regular basis.
I am most proud of our commitment to and involvement in our community. We allow local and regional non-profit groups to use our space for benefits and fundraisers; in just under 5 years in business, we have hosted 61 separate events. Many organizations are now on their 4th or 5th annual fundraiser at Pour Richard’s! Most recently, we held a Harvest Festival-themed tasting to benefit Norfolk County Farm Bureau’s scholarship fund. It was a crazy day, involving a chef, a wine vendor, a mixologist, two local breweries, and lots of local farmers. It was an organizational nightmare but an absolute blast! We were so proud to be able to contribute to this worthy organization.
What were you like growing up?
I loved all animals, sports, cooking, and books, not necessarily in that order. I was a bundle of energy, but was also the kid who would make the cake with the 5 page recipe and the fancy decorative touches.
Contact Info:
- Address: 14 Grove Street
Franklin, MA 02038 - Website: https://pourrichardswine.com/
- Phone: 508-520-9163
- Email: info@pourrichardswine.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pourrichardswinema
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pour-Richards-Wine-Spirits-289432037843639/?ref=bookmarks
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ndowine?lang=en
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/pour-richards-wine-and-spirits-franklin
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