Pour Vous Wine, Spirits & Beer Warehouse is a retail warehouse store in Henderson, Tennessee. It sells wine, spirits, beer, cigars and party supplies, and it built its name on being a one-stop shop with a huge selection of well-known and premium products.
To keep all of that stocked, Pour Vous replaced the stock ladders in its warehouse with the Big Joe J1 Joey. Staff now ride up to the shelf, slide cases onto a waist-high tray and restock faster, without climbing.
A huge selection, narrow aisles and a lot of glass
Pour Vous carries a deep range of products in one location. Every foot of storage space comes out of the sales floor, so the on-site warehouse had to hold as much product as possible.
The team set up racking in narrow 48 in. aisles. Much of the inventory is small and breakable, from 20 oz. craft beer bottles to wine and single bottles of spirits. Staff picked it all by hand from standard stock ladders.
The racking held plenty of product. The ladders were the problem. Moving them from aisle to aisle was slow, and carrying heavy cases and glass up and down the steps was a risk the team wanted gone. They started looking for a machine that was compact, affordable and easy for anyone on staff to run.
A ladder replacement that fits the aisle
The Pour Vous team found the J1 Joey while researching alternatives and decided to give it a try. Once it was on site, it fit the job.
Pour Vous runs the J1-126. It lifts an operator up to 126 in. At 31.5 in. wide, it runs down the store's 48 in. aisles with room to spare, and it needs only a 72 in. aisle to make a right-angle turn.
Some beverage cases weigh as much as 40 lb. On the Joey, operators slide product straight across from the rack to the front load tray at waist height. Nobody has to bend to the floor or carry a case down ladder steps.
The J1 Joey carries up to 1,000 lb. combined. That includes a 300 lb. operator platform, a 500 lb. front load tray and a stowable 200 lb. rear load tray, so operators can bring product up with them instead of making extra trips.
The Joey charges from a standard 120V wall outlet, so there was no separate charging area to set up.
What changed on the floor
- Off the ladders. Staff ride up to the shelf on a guarded platform instead of climbing.
- Faster restocking. No more dragging ladders from one aisle to the next.
- Less bending and lifting. Cases move across at waist height, not up from the floor.
- Built for narrow aisles. At 31.5 in. wide, the Joey fits the store's 48 in. aisles with room to spare.
- Quick to learn. New operators pick it up fast.
- One case or 50. The same machine handles a single case or a full restock.
"We wouldn't know what to do without our Big Joe Joey. It's a very unique machine that is a perfect fit in narrow aisles. From one case to 50, the Joey can handle the load. It's intuitive and easy to use, and operators learn it quickly. Most importantly, it keeps our employees off ladders and more productive in the warehouse."
Pour Vous Wine, Spirits & Beer Warehouse
Still restocking from ladders?
If your team climbs ladders to pick and restock, the J1 Joey is worth a look. Contact your local Big Joe dealer to schedule a demo.
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