We’ve all stood in front of a wall of wine labels, hoping one bottle somehow jumps out at us. A new Brunswick East bottle shop wants to take the guesswork out of the experience.
Instead of organising shelves by grape variety or where a bottle was made, newly opened Drop Shop sorts its drinks by the moment you’re buying them for. Picking up an easy weeknight wine? There’s a section for that. Need a bottle for a dinner party? Covered. Celebrating something special? You’ll find that, too.
Dreamed up by Pinot Palooza founder and Wine Victoria chair Dan Sims, former Dan Murphy’s and Blackhearts & Sparrows buyer Courtney Keegan, and Common State founder Luke McKinnon, the concept reimagines the traditional bottle shop around how most people actually shop.
As McKinnon puts it, “We want to create a new category… an occasion-based liquor format that strips out the clutter and speaks directly to the individual who’s tired of choosing between a warehouse and a wine lecture.”
Wine shopping by occasion, not appellation
Wines are grouped into three categories—Weekday ($15–25), Party ($25–40) and Fancy ($40+)—while beer, spirits, RTDs and non-alcoholic drinks follow the same easy-to-shop format. The range also includes half bottles, bagnums, six-packs, slabs and ready-to-drink cocktails.
Instead of overwhelming shoppers with choice, Drop Shop has deliberately kept its range tight. It stocks around 150 wines, compared to the 1,000-plus carried by many bottle shops, with every bottle carefully chosen to make the cut.
“Everything has to really earn its spot on the shelf,” says Sims. “The idea isn’t to limit choice—it’s to make choosing easier.”
The focus also lands squarely on Victorian wineries alongside emerging producers, giving local drops plenty of shelf space without overwhelming shoppers with options.
Designed to make choosing easier
The physical space is just as carefully curated as the drinks selection. Created by We Are Humble, the studio behind Good Measure and Operator Diner, with branding by Hamish Childs, the 60m² corner store borrows from the clean, organised feel of Japanese konbinis. Neon lighting, minimal shelving and gallery-like displays replace the visual overload that’s become standard in many liquor stores.
For McKinnon, the physical experience matters just as much as what’s on the shelves. “People want convenience, speed and reliability,” he says. “What’s changed is the expectation that it should come with significantly better curation and a nicer in-store experience.”
He believes liquor retail has lagged behind other industries that have embraced design-led shopping experiences. “We’ve seen entire categories transformed by better retail,” McKinnon says. “The experience has become part of the product… For something fun that people genuinely love, liquor retail has remained surprisingly unchanged. That’s crazy to me. What an opportunity.”
If nothing else, Drop Shop proves there’s more than one way to organise a bottle shop. And for indecisive shoppers, that could be reason enough to drop in.
Key Details
- What: Drop Shop
- Where: 70 Lygon Street, Brunswick East
- Opening hours: Monday to Thursday: 11am–9pm, Friday & Saturday: 11am–10pm & Sunday: 11am–8pm
