Florida-based Southern Wine & Spirits and Texas-based Glazer’s recently merged to become Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, LLC (SGWS). The combined organization is headquartered in Miami.
Steven Becker, Executive Vice President, proudly describes SGWS’s huge investment in an over one million square foot facility, located in Lakeland, as “the largest wine and spirits warehouse in the world.” So large, in fact, that they are able to carry 1,400 wine labels and 800 brands of spirits, with flavors and styles culminating in over 16,000 different types of product. From this central warehouse, SGWS operates a hub and spoke network of facilities throughout Florida to serve its 27,000 retail customers. “The network and huge vehicle fleet allow SGWS to deliver the next day to most of Florida,” said Becker.
SGWS provides many its retail customers with point of sale specialties and brand promotion signage, as well as an education about the alcoholic beverage industry: from how to design attractive shelves to techniques and recipes for mixing delicious cocktails. And, in an effort to make sure choice and variety reign supreme, SGWS retailers can order split cases, allowing them to customize and order down to the individual bottle. SGWS may be the biggest, but they make it a point to work with each retailer’s needs individually.