East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL) has increased its focus on top-tier clients by opening a high-end spirits shop at the Yaya Centre shopping mall in Nairobi as part of the company’s strategy to dominate the expanding middle and upper income-earning class market segment.
The shop dubbed “Berries and Barrels”, located on the second floor of the shopping mall that is normally frequently by affluent clients, will see fine spirits connoisseurs get access to a wide range of reserve brands that are not readily available in most establishments in Nairobi.
The shop is a joint venture between EABL and one its long-time distributors in the country, Bia Tosha Limited – whose network of the alcoholic beverages market in the country is vast.
The unprecedented move by EABL to open a retail shop for its reserve brands aims at exploiting the existing market demand for fine spirits among the burgeoning middle class and the ready market for the same offered by the upper class. This follows EABL’s recent announcement of the profits it has accrued from spirit brands which grew 67 per cent in the six months to December last year.
Speaking at the launch event yesterday at the Yaya Centre, Kenya Breweries Limited Managing Director, Joe Muganda, said that the top-end spirits business has taken a new high in Kenya as a result of the increased demand of the reserve brands by the ever-expanding middle and upper-income earning class.
“The sustained demand for top-end spirits by the sophisticated clientele who can pay a little bit more for the drink and want to enjoy the experience has necessitated the interventions we have had in the top-tier spirits markets in the recent past,” he said.
The shop’s proprietor, Anne-Marie Burugu said they would also stock non-EABL brands in a bid to expand their market reach with fine and rare wines, champagnes, whiskeys and cognacs for the discerning clients
Prices of spirits at the shop will start at Kshs 4,000 with the most expensive brand being the top-end Johnnie Walker and Sons Odyssey reserve brand which will retail at Kshs 160,000 a bottle. Vintage champagne reserve brands like Dom Perignon will retail at Sh44,800 with Courvoisier Initale Extra being the most expensive cognac at Sh67,200 a bottle.