Festive season brings cheer to wine shop retailers

The week before and after Christmas has brought in a lot of cheer to wine shop retailers in Thane region. Sales of liquors have increased in some areas by 6-7%, while in Thane western region they have gone up to 15-20%.

"Prior to Christmas, it was the Margshirsh month because of which sales had taken a hit. But the Christmas week, ie December 21 onwards, made up for it. The sales have increased by 15-20%," said Manoj Kamat, Wine Merchant Association, Thane (western region).

"During Margshirsh, many Hindus abstain from alcohol and non-vegetarian food. But as Christmas started nearing the slump got corrected on its own. We are now hoping that sales continue to increase till New Year's Eve. The current figures are anyway better than last year's by 6-7%."

Besides the festive season what's pushing liquor sales up is the nip in the air, as people are going for wine, scotches etc instead of beer to keep warm. "Due to the cold weather, beer sales have taken a hit. But that has been compensated for by the sale of wine and other hard liquors," said Ravi Shetty, a member of the Thane-Raigad wine retailers association.