Dunell’s – New look for vintage firm
Dunell’s, one of Jersey’s longest-established family businesses, trading for 120 years, have dramatically refurbished their main retail outlet in Beaumont.
The main contractor for the scheme was Pinel Carpentry, which is owned by the brother of Dunell’s Managing Director, Neil Pinel.
Neil Pinel said: “The idea for refurbishment started with the need to replace old wiring from the 1960’s plus the need to update the offices adjoining the shop in order to provide our employees with the best possible working environment – and the project just snowballed from there.”
The premises were divided in two adjoining buildings – one of which was constructed in 1967, with the remaining building dating back over 150 years.
Neil Pinel said: “One of the greatest challenges of the scheme was that the building foundations were not in good condition – and this, plus the need to raise ceiling heights and lower the levels of the floors led to what turned out to be a major construction project. We wanted to open up the space to create one super large space and allow full vision from one end of the shop to the other. ”
Works include underpinning the walls, removing steelwork to increase headroom internally, reinforcing existing doorways between the old and new sections of the building and installing and painting a new shopfront, as well as adding new signage. The building was re-wired throughout with new air handling systems and new air-conditioning installed throughout.
The former interior, which included concrete walls and floors and plain plastered ceilings, is now transformed with new fixtures and fittings together with new lighting and a re-painted ceiling to create a much more appealing, customer-friendly, environment. A new bespoke area for displaying decanters and glassware has also been created.
In addition, two stunning new tasting rooms have been created and the existing kitchen has been expanded to a size suitable for providing warm and cold food for tasting events.
All of the works were carried out whilst the shop is trading. Neil Pinel said: “The main contractors are doing an excellent job. The good thing about having my brother’s company carrying out the work is that they are very familiar with the premises and know the building as well as I do. We have looked around many other wine shops over the years and this is going to be up amongst some of the best we have ever seen in the UK – and even the world. The project will allow us to do so many things that we have wanted to do with the business for many years and will open up opportunities to offer our customer a much larger range of products and services.”
Dunell’s have three shops based in Beaumont, St. Helier and Gorey, as well as a full e-commerce website offering free island-wide delivery. The company pride themselves on their extensive range of over 1,700 wines (plus a further 400 trade only wines) from all over the world, plus a wide range of spirits, liqueurs, beers, lagers, ciders, waters and soft drinks as well as an extensive range of glassware and accessories.
In 2016 Dunell’s won the Regional Merchant of the Year award for the South and South East of England and were also shortlisted to win the National Small Independent Merchant Award at the International Wine Challenge Awards. In 2017 they retained the title of Regional Wine Merchant for South and South East of England and in 2018 were shortlisted once again for the national award and retained the regional award. They were also shortlisted for the 2018 Decanter Retailer Awards, Regional Wine Shop of the Year.
