Twofer Tuesday - Buzzballz and Liquor Sales Reps

OK, while I'm on the subject of liquor distributors' sales reps' promotions (yesterday's post) here's another one that sparked my interest for obvious reasons - Buzzballz. 

My sales rep for Southern Glazer Wine and Spirits, Blaine McDevitt suggested that I check out these items if for no other reason than their name.  The "Get your Buzzballz at Buzzy's" sounded like too good a come on for me not to pursue.  So I had Blaine send some info on them and plan to soon have some Buzzballz in Buzzy's to cool you down or light you up as the case may be.  

Southern Glazers Wine (SGW) started out as a small "Mom and Pop" operation in 1909 when Louis Glazer and his wife Bessie began selling soda water from the back of their horse drawn wagon in Dallas, Texas.  I found this excerpt from an article discussing on how the business got its start:

https://www.dmagazine.com/food-drink/2012/08/history-of-dallas-food-the-woosie/

From those humble beginnings, the business grew and expanded to become the largest wine and spirits distributor in the U.S.  To check out their history and timeline (click here.) 

When I first took over Buzzy's Country Store in 2007, the 2 biggest liquor distributors at the time were Reliable Churchill and Republic National.  (Reliable Churchill would become even bigger eventually merging with Breakthru Beverages (click here.))  A third and much smaller distributor was FP Winner.  

Reliable and Republic each had a sales rep assigned to the Southern Maryland region and I would call them to place my orders.   On the other hand, the FP Winner sales rep would call me every week to see if I needed anything.  I remember telling Dad "It's funny how this old boy from FP Winner calls every week and we hardly ever buy anything from them while the 2 big boys that we do order from, we have to call them to place an order."

Buzzy laughed and said  "That's because the Winner guy is old school.  He has called me every week for years to tell me about sales and promotions.  Sometimes I'll  buy from him just to give him some business."  

I thought of that exchange the other day when Blaine called me to introduce himself as my new sales rep for Southern Glazer and recommended the Buzzballz to me.   Blaine also followed up a few days later to make sure that I had received that info.  Maybe there is a little old school in Blaine too.

Nice video here courtesy of Playing for Change.   Note that while it has nothing to do with Buzzballz nor liquor sales' reps, I thought it worth viewing just to get your motor running.  Double note - the thought did cross my mind to write "just to get your balls buzzing."