{"id":143577,"date":"2025-05-30T07:59:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T07:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/143577\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T07:59:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T07:59:11","slug":"royal-wine-merchant-berry-bros-rudd-to-open-first-us-store-in-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/143577\/","title":{"rendered":"Royal wine merchant Berry Bros. & Rudd to open first US store in Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"

Berry Bros. & Rudd, the historic British wine merchant favoured by the Royal family, is set to open its first US store in Washington, marking a significant expansion as demand for luxury British heritage brands surges across the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

Founded in 1698 and holding a Royal Warrant since the reign of George III, the company is renowned for its deep ties to the British establishment and its reputation for fine wines and spirits. While it already operates internationally with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and London, this new venture will be its first physical retail presence in the United States.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Berry Bros. & Rudd confirmed: \u201cThis marks a key milestone in our international growth and we look forward to serving a wider community of customers across the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision to expand stateside reflects a growing appetite among affluent Americans for British craftsmanship, aristocratic traditions, and Royal connections. Luxury names such as Fortnum & Mason<\/a> and Holland & Holland have seen strong traction in the US, with the latter recently reporting a fivefold increase in American sales thanks to demand from wealthy clients in states like Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always been a long-standing appreciation for the brand in the US,\u201d a Holland & Holland executive said recently. \u201cAffluent Americans love the English aristocracy, Royal family and our links with them. That connection is a very romantic notion for a lot of affluent Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The timing of the expansion also comes amid a warming of political ties between the Trump White House and Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s Labour government. In February, the Prime Minister extended a formal state visit invitation to Donald Trump on behalf of King Charles, during a meeting at the White House hailed as a diplomatic \u201clove-in\u201d. The recent UK-US trade deal was later described by Starmer as a \u201cfantastic, historic day\u201d.<\/p>\n

Still, many UK companies continue to face export challenges, with 10 per cent tariffs remaining in place on numerous goods sold into the US market.<\/p>\n

Domestically, Berry Bros. & Rudd has been grappling with a squeeze on margins from rising employer National Insurance contributions and a slew of new tax obligations, including the Extended Producer Responsibility packaging levy and the government\u2019s alcohol duty reform.<\/p>\n

In January, the company announced plans to cut around 30 roles from its 400-strong workforce. Chief executive Emma Fox cited \u201cextremely challenging global market conditions\u201d and increasing operational costs as the main drivers behind the cuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike many businesses, we are having to make some very difficult but necessary decisions in the face of extremely challenging global market conditions, as well as significant cost pressures, high inflation and recent increases in NI contributions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A senior industry executive warned that such pressures are now forcing high-end UK wine businesses to look overseas for growth. \u201cThe fine wine business is beginning to move out of the UK,\u201d the executive said. \u201cIt\u2019s not hyperbole, everyone\u2019s just in despair. Nobody can invest. Everyone\u2019s being driven abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n

As one of the most prestigious names in the world of fine wine, Berry Bros. & Rudd\u2019s foray into the US signals not just confidence in American demand \u2014 but also a potential pivot away from an increasingly inhospitable business environment at home.<\/p>\n

\t \t\t\"Jamie \t \tJamie Young \t<\/p>\n

\t\tJamie is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, bringing over a decade of experience in UK SME business reporting.
\nJamie holds a degree in Business Administration and regularly participates in industry conferences and workshops.
\n
\nWhen not reporting on the latest business developments, Jamie is passionate about mentoring up-and-coming journalists and entrepreneurs to inspire the next generation of business leaders. \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Berry Bros. & Rudd, the historic British wine merchant favoured by the Royal family, is set to open…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[5105,7710,519,448],"class_list":{"0":"post-143577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-royal","9":"tag-royal-families","10":"tag-royal-family","11":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114595729828664210","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}