The Rydmans never intended to run a beverage retail empire in Texas. While the family today owns and operates 220 Spec’s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods stores throughout the Lone Star State—leading a company that boasts more than $2 billion in annual revenue—none of the family members managing the business had plans to work in a drinks store, let alone own one. Of course, when looking back on a decades-long successful career at the helm of one of the largest retailers in Texas, the Rydmans have nothing but pride for the family business.
“We spend every day trying to get better in every facet of what we do,” says Spec’s owner and president John Rydman. “I learn something every day and I’ve been doing this for 53 years.”
John works side by side with his wife, Lindy Rydman, who co-owns the business she inherited from her father, Carroll “Spec” Jackson. John and Lindy’s daughter, Lisa Rydman-Lindsey, now serves as the company’s executive vice president and director of marketing, and Lisa’s sons have also recently joined the fold.
“There’s something about having your family around you,” Lisa says. “No one looks out for you like your family.” Lindy adds that working together is all her family knows.
For their incredible run continuing Spec’s robust family legacy, all three are being named the 2025 Market Watch Leaders Retailers of the Year—Lisa receiving the honor for the first time and John and Lindy claiming the first repeat Retailers of the Year honor in the magazine’s history.
Family First
Jackson opened the first Spec’s store in April 1962 and his wife Carolynn joined the business soon after. Lindy began working for her parents’ company as a teenager and John came on board in 1972 when he married Lindy. “If Lindy and I hadn’t gotten married while we were in college I wouldn’t have been in this business,” John explains. He grew up in retail, as his family owned several hardware stores in Texas, but it was never his intent to follow that path. Jackson was a member of the inaugural Market Watch Leaders class in 1984, and John and Lindy followed suit a decade later, earning Market Watch Leaders honors in 1994. John and Lindy were named Retailers of the Year in 1998 and Lisa continued the family tradition years later, being named a Leaders herself in 2016.
“None of us intended to be in this business,” Lindy explains. “I was going to be a high school choir director and John was going to be a band director. But music turned out not to be as lucrative as we hoped it would be. We joined the business as youngsters and luckily we did. Our daughter swore she would never get into this business too, but when she was graduating college she called and said ‘I’d like an interview.’ I was absolutely shocked and said okay, and she came down and talked to my dad, and she’s been with us ever since.”
Lisa studied psychology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and hoped to use her degree in an organizational psychology position, but ultimately decided to return home. Today, Lisa leads advertising, marketing, and charitable giving for Spec’s 220-store footprint, and she’s been in the family business for 30 years. Lisa notes that she and her parents work hard to keep an eye on most facets of the business. “I hope I have the best qualities of both my parents,” she says. “We each have particular roles, but we do other things. We all do a little bit with personnel, wine, and food. We don’t really have boundaries. We like to be everywhere within the company.”
Lindy now focuses on human resources, though she says her favorite place to be is on the sales floor. “My favorite thing to do is work the sales floor on Fridays and Saturdays,” Lindy says. “John is the brains and I’m the heart, and that works well for us. Even though we work together, we still go home and talk about work.” John’s role is more analytical and strategic. He’s involved in monitoring sales trends for purchasing decisions, as well as real estate and long-range planning. “It’s more than a full-time job,” John says. “The level of detail we all look at wouldn’t be believed by a lot of people in our business.”
While there are three generations of Rydmans currently working for Spec’s, the company has more than 5,000 employees overall, and they’re considered family too. John says the people who work for Spec’s are what make the stores stand out in a crowded and competitive beverage market. “Our people are knowledgeable and friendly,” he explains. “The term is ‘Texas friendly’—people down here understand that. We respect people and treat folks right all the time. It’s our twist on southern charm.”
The Rydmans also make a point of being accessible to their employees, and meeting as many as them as possible. “I had a brilliant idea last October—I thought John and I could visit every store before Christmas,” Lindy says. “We made it to 108 of them, and we’re still on the quest to get that done. The whole point of the trip was to let employees know how much we appreciate them. We look for the good stuff our people do every single day. And we’re going to get to every store.”
Massive Selection
With 220 stores spread across the second-largest state in the U.S., Spec’s has a huge selection of inventory company-wide, spanning more than 58,000 SKUs overall. Most stores carry from 10,000-30,000 SKUs, and the company avoids a cookie cutter format, choosing instead to tailor units to their city and neighborhood. “We have very few stores that look alike,” John says, adding that each retail outlet has its own inventory list and they’re not always the same. “We opened a store in Austin last year and hired a graffiti artist to do paintings around the exterior of the building. It’s never been done before and it’s amazing.”
John notes that business has been slower over the last year than some years prior. He points to several factors affecting overall sales, from the economy and recession fears to the general decline in social drinking caused by an increase in health-minded consumers. In addition, he says THC products are stealing sales from alcohol, though he notes that Spec’s currently offers THC items where legal, and that has helped offset other losses. The future of THC product availability is in limbo in Texas though, as the state legislature has proposed to ban the sale of THC cannabis goods. Governor Greg Abbott, however, vetoed the most recent attempt to ban THC and the products remain available in Texas stores.
“We’re not down like some other business,” John says. “But sales are shifting from in-store to delivery now, and people tend to buy less that way.” Lisa adds that Texas is often behind other parts of the country when it comes to recession, and that has held true for the current economic climate.
Spirits overwhelmingly make up the largest share of sales at Spec’s, comprising 70% overall, followed by wine at 13%, beer at 8%, and food and non-alcohol items at 9%. Tequila is the company’s hottest category, led by Don Julio Reposado ($44 a 750-ml.), which John says just recently became the stores’ No.-1 Tequila SKU. Beyond that, he says Tito’s vodka ($32 a 1.75-liter), Maker’s Mark Bourbon ($44 a 1.75-liter.), High Noon Sun Sips RTDs (from $12 a 4-pack of 355-ml. cans to $24 a 12-pack), Jim Beam Bourbon ($23 a 1.75-liter), Lalo Tequila ($44 a 750-ml. for blanco), Jameson Irish whiskey ($26 a 750-ml.), and Crown Royal Canadian whisky ($24 a 750-ml.) are all strong performers.
“Tequila is king here,” John adds. “Some consumers have left Bourbon to go to Tequila, specifically reposado Tequila. They’re also dropping Cognac for Tequila. Super-premium Tequila outsells vodka here if you take Tito’s out of the category.”
Wine is losing customers at Spec’s, notably to THC products and lower-calorie offerings. The company’s top-selling wines include Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay ($11 a 750-ml.), Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc ($10), Josh Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon ($12), La Marca Prosecco ($13), Highway 12 Cabernet Sauvignon ($17), and La Crema Monterey Chardonnay ($12).
Beer is also declining, as seltzers and THC products are stealing share here, too. Popular beers at Spec’s include labels from Modelo ($19 a 12-pack of 12-ounce cans), Dos Equis ($17 a 12-pack of 12-ounce bottles), Corona ($20 a 12-pack), Michelob Ultra ($30 a 24-pack of 12-ounce cans), Miller Lite ($25 a 24-pack), and Coors Light ($25 a 24-pack). Along with High Noon, some of Spec’s other top-selling seltzers include Nutrl ($14-$15 an 8-pack of 12-ounce cans) and White Claw ($20 a 12-pack of 12-ounce cans). Top-selling THC products include Pamos ($32 a 750-ml. for the cannabis-infused spirit, $17 a 4-pack of 12-ounce canned Spritzes), Buddi ($10 a 4-pack of 12-ounce canned seltzers), and oHHo ($12 a 4-pack of 12-ounce canned seltzers).
Big names dominate sales, but Spec’s is also committed to showcasing smaller brands and boutique players. “We love to search out little brands that aren’t getting their deserved attention—family brands we can bring to our customers at a better value,” John says. He adds that employee education is top-of-mind, to make sure that staff members can guide guests. Though Spec’s executives realize that with such a large SKU count, it’s impossible for every employee to know every item in stock. To this, Lindy adds that Spec’s employees on the sales floor are encouraged to listen to consumer feedback.
“We try to find different ways to educate, and we end up having our own people train each other and work together to share what they know so they all learn together,” John explains. “You can’t have tasted everything in the store. We say, ‘I haven’t tasted it but my customers say they love this one.’ That’s the hardest thing—you don’t have to have personal knowledge. You can share the knowledge you learn from others.” Lisa adds that in-store tastings and sampling events are also a critical piece for both staff members and consumers. Every store throughout the Spec’s network offers tastings, sometimes run by staff members and sometimes run by suppliers.
Embracing Change
Of course, Spec’s has grown tremendously since the company launched 63 years ago. Jackson started the business in Houston by opening a small family shop with a focus on varied selection and fair pricing. Over the founder’s tenure at the helm, he grew the business to 27 stores in and around Houston, and he consolidated that count by selling some units off. After his death, John and Lindy, with Carolynn’s approval, began growing the business again. In 2002, Spec’s counted 24 stores in greater Houston and in 2007 it made its first moves geographically, debuting a store in Austin, Texas. By its 60th anniversary in 2022, Spec’s had more than 180 stores and now, just a few years later, the company boasts 220 locations throughout Texas.
“Spec would be completely blown away,” Lindy says of her father and what he would think of the business today. “He never dreamed of us getting out of Houston, much less all over the state. We had 60 wholesalers when he was here. Now we have two major ones. It’s mind blowing. People ask why we do it—we’re still hungry. We love what we do and we enjoy our business. We have no plans to stop.”
John says the business will add a few more units this year, and also close a couple under-performing stores, and he notes there are plans to add at least five more stores in 2026. But so far, the Rydmans are committed to their home state. “We get customers who ask why there isn’t a Spec’s in their town. It’s flattering,” John says. “Sometimes they’re right and we find opportunity. We’re fortunate to have grown our business and stayed within our state. Texas has been good to us. We’re doing well here and we haven’t looked at other states yet.”
Spec’s is committed to the communities that house its stores and supports local charities throughout Texas. The company features a Charity of the Month and has raised significant funds for Lone Star State food banks, the Autism Society, and groups like Sky High, which supports the families of children undergoing cancer treatment, among many others. “Charitable giving is a huge part of what we do and who we are,” Lisa says. “Being involved in our communities is of the utmost importance. We’re not just bystanders but active participants in what’s happening in our communities.”
The family’s goal is to maintain those good relationships, and support and strengthen them as much as possible going forward. That’s what builds a successful family business, after all, and it’s where the Rydmans excel. “Our goal is to keep strong in our core values,” Lisa says. “To put people first, have enthusiastic determination to do our best, have courageous integrity, and show humility and respect for all. Our main focus is to keep our stores looking great, staffed well, and follow what our customers ask for.”