It’s hard to find a stronger indication that nonalcoholic drinks have transcended from trend into the mainstream than permanent real estate at Target.
On Thursday, the Minneapolis-based big box retailer announced that it will be carrying a selection of booze-free beverages curated by Sèchey, a nonalcoholic beverage retailer headquartered in Charleston that also happens to produce zero-proof still and sparkling wines.
“The biggest piece of feedback we historically have received as to why someone may not be drinking De Soi, or a specialty nonalcoholic beverage in general, is availability,” says De Soi CEO Scout Brisson, whose nonalcoholic botanical spritzes are now available at Target locations nationwide. “[Target] has created a destination in stores that are meeting consumer demands. This creates more education in the space, resulting in a positive feedback loop and allowing the category to experience even more growth.”
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But as national retailers and grocers start to take the nonalcoholic category seriously by investing precious shelf space, who gets left behind?
The first big casualty seems to be Boisson, a nonalcoholic specialty retailer with brick-and-mortar locations in Miami, San Francisco, and New York that ceased all retail operations just last week — looking to restructure its e-commerce and wholesale businesses.
“I am proud that we served more than 250,000 customers, of the deep and meaningful wholesale partners who embraced NA for their customers, and proud of the awareness and education we brought to consumers, introducing them to NA through partnerships we forged with brands and communities,” wrote Boisson founder and president Nick Bodkins in a LinkedIn post on Friday. “I am proud…of the awareness and education we brought to consumers, introducing them to NA through partnerships we forged with brands and communities.”
Andrea Hernandez, founder of Snaxshot, a community that focuses on innovation in the food and beverage industry, says that NA bottle shops like Boisson were instrumental in helping cement and lend validation to the category, to the point that it was able to grow out of niche retail into mainstream grocers like Target, Sprouts, and Walmart.
“The future of NA is actually alongside booze,” she says. “Why go to a specific niche store when you can grab your NA alongside everything else you have on your grocery list?”
Walmart, too, is carving out more shelf space for the nonalcoholic category. Earlier this week, it added Wine0’s sparkling rosé to its selection of zero-proof beverages, which already includes offerings from brands like Ritual, Freixenet, and Seedlip.
