In February, a for sale sign appeared over Oddbins (Well Street). This is quite a blow for Rhuthun. Read on as to why.Once the short-lived former Wine Cellar and, before that, the rather longer Cellar Five, Oddbins in Rhuthun has been trading a year and it is with some disappointment that this individual and innovative chain is leaving Rhuthun, not that the Rhuthun store seemed to have the same charm as some of its larger, trendier English Oddbins contemporaries.
Staff at the off-licence feel that Oddbins’ management hasn’t given the store enough time. Staff are running a petition to that effect. It does have to be said, however, that a year is a pretty long time in retailing.
Oddbins in Rhuthun was a considerable coup. It’s an indicator of the new, healthier, upmarket Rhuthun. Along with Off the Square, Manorhaus and Bar W, it signified a cultural, upward shift. Oddbins' wish to invest in Rhuthun said something about the town, its style and its people, especially so as there are no Oddbins in Yr Wyddgrug/Mold, Dinbych, Wrecsam or indeed anywhere else in North Wales, save Porthaethwy/Menai Bridge.
No other retailer seems to have summed up the upward trend in wine consumption than Oddbins. It’s said that we (in Britain) each drank an extra 27 litres of wine in 2005 and that since the late 1990s, year-on-year wine sales have seen something of a remarkable boom. The trend will flatten in future years but still grow. And that’s the problem for Oddbins – the growth won’t be so exponential as in the past, as wine merchants sober up after what for them will have been a decade-long party.
Wine sales have long been seen as indicative of a relative wealth. That Oddbins is off, does this say that Rhuthun isn’t quite so Bohemian as we might like to think? That the wine drinking classes aren’t present after all?
Or is it that Tesco has now cornered what local market there is for wine. Tesco’s range appears at least as good as Oddbins’ and Tesco's two whole aisles' worth of booze always seems to have a wine special offer available (currently, five per cent off when buying six or more bottles, or better discounts for cases). Or is it simply that post-Tesco there are fewer people wandering the streets of Rhuthun and therefore browsing Oddbins’ stocks?
It will be sad indeed to see Oddbins go.