Good Pair Days has taken a significant step forward in its journey to reinvent the way people discover and enjoy wine, officially opening its first bricks-and-mortar wine bar and bottle shop on Sydney’s Crown Street.
Since its launch, the business has built its reputation as a digital-first retailer with a unique proposition: using technology and data to deliver personalised wine recommendations based on individual taste profiles. Customers complete a palate quiz, rate wines they receive, and in turn, the platform uses this data to refine future selections. Over time, members not only receive wines they’re more likely to enjoy but are also encouraged to experiment with new varietals through challenges, badges, and rewards. This gamified approach to discovery has been central to Good Pair Days’ appeal and growth.
According to Co-founder and CEO Tom Walenkamp, the move into physical retail is about expanding this philosophy beyond the screen.
“We never saw ourselves as a pure online retailer,” he told National Liquor News. “We saw ourselves as a retailer, full stop.”
“Customers do want that personal interaction. They want to taste before buying, get out of the house, experience something and have fun. We wanted to meet them where they wanted to be.” – Tom Walenkamp
The new store, located on Crown Street in Surry Hills, is designed to deliver the same personalised discovery process in real life. Existing members can scan a QR code or ask staff to pull up their profile, instantly accessing the same tailored recommendations they would see online. Wines tasted at the bar can be logged against their account, badges can be awarded for in-store activity, and reward points redeemed on the spot.
“We’ve built the tech so wines you try in-store can be added to your account in real time,” Walenkamp explained. “It’s really the best of both worlds – digital personalisation alongside face-to-face interaction with our wine associates.”
Translating the online model into a physical experience
For those encountering Good Pair Days for the first time, the experience begins just as it would online: by taking the palate quiz. Staff can guide newcomers through the process, or customers can do it themselves on their phones. Recommendations are then drawn from the range available in-store, and staff can turn those into a wine flight or tasting.
It’s a seamless extension of the brand’s core promise: helping customers find wines that genuinely suit their tastes, while still encouraging exploration.
According to Walenkamp, the choice of location for Good Pair Days’ first physical store was also data-led.
“Surry Hills and Darlinghurst are our highest concentration of members in Sydney, which means in Australia, really,” he said. “We wanted to be convenient for current members to try new wines and experiences in-store.”
At the same time, Crown Street provides brand visibility to a wider audience, acting as what Walenkamp calls a “billboard for the brand” while remaining profitable in its own right. He added that rather than increasing spend on traditional top-of-funnel marketing channels like outdoor and radio, the business saw greater long-term value in investing that money into a physical space that directly serves members.
Inside, the venue blends wine bar and retail formats, with seating for around 50 people and capacity for up to 85 including outdoor areas. Members enjoy significant benefits: discounted pricing by the glass, no corkage fees when drinking takeaway bottles on-premise, and access to a program of tastings, meet-the-maker nights, and education sessions.
“For every wine by the glass we have a member and non-member price,” Walenkamp said. “If you buy a bottle from the shop, there’s no corkage, so you’re paying retail prices to drink on-premise – which is pretty unheard of in any wine bar. And if you’re not a member, you can join on the spot and get the benefits straight away.”
Challenges, suppliers and future expansion
The space also represents a new kind of stage for suppliers. Good Pair Days plans to host regular events where winemakers present their wines directly to customers, building connections between producers and the engaged Good Pair Days community.
“We want the winemakers to be in-store, talking about their products and telling their stories. They’re the people behind the wines, and that’s the interesting part.” – Tom Walenkamp
Transitioning from e-commerce to physical retail has not been without its challenges. Staffing has been one of the steepest learning curves, particularly finding people with both wine knowledge and the right hospitality skills to fit the hybrid wine bar and retail model. Venue Manager Tim Sturt, whose background spans both hospitality and retail, has been key to bridging this gap. At the same time, integrating store staff into the company’s digital-first communication culture has required careful onboarding.
“Most of our team works remotely and uses Slack and Notion daily,” Walenkamp said. “Retail staff are more used to face-to-face communication, so we’ve had to invest more into onboarding and blending both worlds.”
While the store is still in its early days, the long-term ambition is clear. If successful, the format will be rolled out in other Australian cities and even internationally, with the UK a likely next step given it now accounts for half of the company’s business.
Walenkamp believes the store represents more than just an additional sales channel – it’s a way of deepening relationships with members while introducing the brand to a new audience in an experiential way.
“Some feedback we had early on was, ‘You can’t be both a wine bar and a bottle shop.’ But we looked to adjacent industries, like Mecca in beauty, and saw how they’ve tied experiential retail, education, loyalty and personalisation together,” he said. “We think that makes a lot of sense for wine too.”
With its first physical store, Good Pair Days is betting that the future of retail lies in seamlessly blending the convenience of digital with the engagement of in-person experiences. For a business built on personalisation, it’s a natural extension – and one that may well set a new benchmark for how online-first liquor businesses think about physical retail.