Stolen Spirits inspired us right away with their contagiously cool branding and fresh approach to the art of rum-making. If you’ve never heard of them, you should first know that they are currently the only company in the world that sells “smoked rum.” The inventive New Zealand-born label came to life when two business partners with a common passion for high-quality rum, and a desire to escape the corporate world, shook up the liquor industry with their wild success. The humble beginnings of this grassroots company first started operations in an Auckland apartment in 2010. Today, their award-winning rum has developed an international following of devoted drinkers and bartenders across New Zealand, Australia and the U.S. The company has also raked in various international awards and recently sold a controlling interest to a U.S.-based company for $21 million NZ.
So, what makes their rum so different? Stolen breaks the mold with their innovative distilling methods, including infusing their rum with re-fractionated roasted coffee, a smoked process called pyrolysis (a burning of hardwood when oxygen is not present) and a two-year aging process in American oak whiskey barrels. Stolen also offers an “over proof” rum, aged for six years in a family-owned, Jamaican-run distillery.
The Storage Problem
Andrea from Stolen Spirits came to us in search of some custom metal lockers to represent their brand that would be used in their promotional displays across various liquor stores. The goal was to find some lockers to embody the creative Stolen spirit with eye-catching branding, while covering their bases for function. Andrea was initially interested in our kids lockers, but after considering their goals for having an open product display, we suggested our cubby lockers as a better fit. Our cubby lockers were a better choice in our minds because the configuration offered two open compartments and one closed compartment, with a shelf inside. This style would allow them to showcase their liquor brilliantly, while also storing more product inside.
Cubby lockers with top shelves and lockable lower storage are the perfect way to display productsThe Storage Solution
In order to help our friends at Stolen make the best choice for their brand, we decided to send them both a kids locker and a cubby locker to sample which style they liked best. Ultimately, the black cubby locker was the winning style. Stolen ordered 150 of our lockers to start, with plans to order more as they continued to expand. For accommodating their future orders, we began stocking large quantities of this specific style so that they could receive each shipment as quickly as possible. To complete the custom metal lockers for Stolen, we assembled the lockers and then affixed their unique stickers to each one. The finished look was bold, compelling and fit right in with Stolen’s edgy attitude.
Coming to a store near you!Our experience with Stolen Spirits left us with a lasting impression and a lesson in the power of unique branding. We also got the chance to see our lockers being used for something totally different than the everyday storage solution, and who would ever guess that our lockers could look so intimidating?!
Have questions about these custom metal lockers or any of our other styles of lockers? Contact us!
