New District sets out to add innovation to B.C. wine sales
There’s a New District in town, and its all about wine. The upstart ecommerce/wine shop operating as New District has a small retail footprint in Dunbar, but its wine reach is provincewide and beyond, as they attempt to bring British Columbia online wine sales into the 21st century.
The business is fronted by Vancouver wine educator DJ Kearney, and she has some impressive support from her CEO, wellknown northwest businessman Jay Garnett, whose successes count Spud and Seattle’s Best Coffee.
(Full disclosure, I’ve known Kearney for a couple of decades and our paths have crossed at numerous wine competitions where we have judged together.)
At New District, Kearney has been given complete control of the wine program where the focus is on what she considers the very best wines of their type. The original premise, according to Kearney, was “How we can help the B.C. wine industry, and the consumer and, naturally, be a viable business?”
The New District model is an innovative way of selling wine that brings together entrepreneurship, technology, wine expertise and timely delivery “all with the over-arching goal of providing customer solutions. We want people to be able to buy with a few clicks on their keyboard or smartphone.”
It’s a great niche and, to my knowledge, there isn’t much competition when it comes to B.C. wine.
The New District bricks-andmortar store meets the goofball rules governing wine sales in B.C., but it is only part of the bigger picture that includes the online store (newdistrict.ca); technology development company New District Technologies; and logistics and delivery company District Transport. It’s a fine illustration of how much business could be generated by the privatization of liquor sales.
The wines of British Columbia are central to the New District model where they state “Home and native land comes first.” It’s a no-brainer really, with over 270 wineries across the province and not a lot of retail shelf space.
Kearney concedes: “There are few channels to market, and we offer a new way for wineries to get their bottles in front of consumers.” It’s not an open door to every winery; the selections are heavily vetted by Kearney and accompanied by a rich layer of information.
“The goal is to provide knowledge in an accessible, usable way, as well as provide deeper dives into wine scholarship for those who want it.”
It makes a lot of sense to me. It’s not for everyone, but if you are willing to take the journey or you are just too busy to track down B.C.’s best wines, New District will do all the work.
What I like most about the model is they recognize wine is complex. As Kearney says, “I dislike the word de-mystifying, because wine is complex and convoluted, and we don’t need to pretend otherwise. I prefer to use the word simplifying, where I can guide and streamline the process of choosing wine.”
So what does New District offer? Besides fine background information about the wines and producers, you can choose things like a regional tasting of Naramata Superstars, or an all-Pinot Noir mixed case, with some of DJ’s recent favourites. Launching soon is the B.C. Highrollers case of six ultra-premium wines (two whites and four reds) available together for the first time. Holiday features will launch in early November, including an I’ll Have What She’s Having offer and the New District Wine Advent Calendar.
Because wine is a global affair, and people who love wine love all wines, New District will soon launch a selection of 50 European wine in response to consumer feedback. There is free shipping for orders over $200.