BITES

WA Cleanskin Cellars is on a roll, launching a third venture, in Malaga, with more outlets in the pipeline.

Proprietors Steve and Marie Cloughley, who recently won a three-year legal battle to keep their Claremont shop open, want the Malaga store to replicate a concept popular in the main Melbourne markets.

Those who have strolled along the alleys of the Prahran Markets or the Queen Victoria Markets will no doubt remember the cleanskin liquor shops trading alongside the fruit and veg and the butchers' stands.

Mr Cloughley says the specialised cleanskin liquor shop is a prefect fit to the market environment and the concept introduced at the Malaga Markets (above) is unique to WA.

"All our wines are available for tasting, and you're getting value for money. It's all about getting a good bargain, which is what people are after when they go to the markets," he told Gusto recently.

Mr Cloughley says that, although the shop is only 50 square metres wide, trading is off to a great start, with the 1,500 bottles sold on the first weekend about what the Claremont shop sells in a week.

The Liquor Stores Association of WA opposed the Claremont licence and Cleanskin's expansion plans three years ago.

Mr Cloughley said he and his partner had been in touch with the Malaga Markets for at least three years, but the project was held up until the resolution of the court case last May.

Mr Cloughley told Gusto his cleanskin-only stores targeted a niche market and are very different from what previously existed in WA.

The couple opened their first cleanskin store, Subi Cleanskins, four years ago and spent $500,000 in legal and consultants' fees to resolve the court case for the Claremont shop.