RICHMOND, Va. -- The fear of uncertainty can hold the strongest, smartest person back. Lance Lemon and Kristine Gardner decided not to let fear get in their way.
“We had to like drop the fear and do it, " Gardner said. "If we failed, OK, we fail. We change it, change the business plan,” she said.
The business partners had been preparing to turn their passion for wine into brick and mortar wine store last year, but COVID-19 interrupted their plans. Instead of giving up, they reimagined their goal and switched directions.
“We ended up creating a website to sell wine,” Gardner said.
RichWineRVA.comlaunched on Sept. 1.
“We're open 24 hours, you can place an order with us whenever,” said Gardner. “We focus on natural organic biodynamic wines, and to us, that is honest wine, wines produced in good clean farming practices.”
Instead of welcoming customers through the door, the two hand-deliver their web orders contact-free.
“Folks order by 4 p.m., we'll get it to your door like the same day between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.,” said Gardner.
“It's funny when we spoke to ABC, and spoke to the people that were in charge, they were like, 'We don't see why more people don't utilize this method,'” said Lance.
Instead of stocking shelves, the wine is posted online, and the inventory is kept in warehouse space. They say the pivot in plans has been profitable.
“Our customers are great. I mean, we have repeat buyers like once a week,” said Lance.
The two still plan to open a physical store one day.
“When things make sense,” said Gardner.
By overcoming fear their business is one step ahead of the process for their ultimate goal.
“We got the whole delivery part done, so when we open up RichWine store, the delivery system is already built,” said Lance.
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