Self-confident, strong-willed, independent, with a quick fire sense of humour, if there is a list of behavioural adjectives to describe an entrepreneur one suspects Baile ticks them all.

It's been two and a half months since he and his business partner Henry Young stormed the top table of British wine retailing by persuading the French giant Castel to part with its flagship chain of Oddbins stores.

At the time the industry was stunned. Nearly a decade of French ownership had diminished the once quirky and dynamic chain. With Castel implementing a store closure strategy there were rumours of a merger with Threshers. What nobody predicted was a sale, least of all to Baile, who was running a small wine merchant in Surrey and Kent. Although his father Nick had saved Oddbins from the receivers 35 years ago and ran it successfully for more than two decades, it had undergone a transformation in the past 15 years under Seagram and Castel.

"While it seems a big leap on the outside, actually it's not a big leap on the inside," says Baile. "This is about retailing, which is what I have been doing for the past 15 years. The challenge is can we do it 131 times? I believe we can."

This week Baile starts a five-day road trip of store visits culminating in a stay in Edinburgh where Oddbins is hosting a two-day wine festival at Murrayfield stadium. It will, he says, give him the chance to get round the estate and preach his back-to-basics programme – a combination of good service, good products and competitive prices. It will also allow him to assess the 24 stores that make up the Scottish market.

"Scotland's always been important to Oddbins. I always used to think as an eight-year-old my father was mad driving up to Edinburgh until you look at the figures and think Scotland's actually a bloody good place. It's tempting to forget about Scotland but if you look at what these stores have done in the past it makes perfect sense. Yes it's flipping miles away, but it's a great hotbed of activity in the wine world and I think there is a lot of opportunity there."

Baile will have his work cut out. Since Oddbins' heyday in the mid-nineties, when its daring Ralph Steadman-illustrated wine list made it one of the most dynamic wine retailers in the world, the retail landscape has changed. Warehouse stores such as Majestic, the big four supermarkets and mail order companies including the Wine Society and Direct Wines have increased market share. Against that background the retail outlook hasn't looked this bad for 17 years.

"We are mindful of what is coming and we have to make sure we improve what we do. But it does present opportunities. People are now staying in more than they did. But I read somewhere that wine was a discretionary purchase. I don't believe that; I think it has become a part of everyday life – people are not running away from it. Is it more competitive? Show me a time when it hasn't been competitive."

Baile has been here before. He finished college in 1991 when the country was in the grip of a recession. Unable to get a job in the wine trade, where everyone was laying off staff, he set up his own business selling wine from the back of a van around the villages of Northamptonshire. It didn't work out, but it did teach him a few things about business.

Although he will not reveal what he paid for Oddbins, analysts say it is a fraction of the £57m Castel paid in 2001. Baile has implemented a cost-cutting programme that by the end of November will see the chain shrink from 158 to 131 stores, while only taking on half of the main warehouse in Wimbledon.

He has retained Claire Graham and Julie Buckley, the two previous Oddbins wine buyers, and bought in Stuart Cole and Patrice Tournier, who are briefed with revamping the French list.

"We have done a massive amount of tasting, particularly on the French side, and are starting to put together a nice little range. It's tempting to say the high street operation has no chance but I don't think that is the case. The great thing about being on the high street is that we are much more close to our customers than supermarkets. That dynamic is quite important but we have to give them the experience to enjoy.

"We are not saying we will be running off and buying Ferraris but we do feel that over the next 12 months this company can actually move forward properly."

Oddbins made a pre-tax loss of £8.69m on turnover of £121.4m in 2006, but Baile says it will make a profit in his first year of ownership. He will not say how he financed the acquisition, but says the group has no net debt.

"Underneath all the losses, what nobody has really focused on is that there was a huge amount of restructuring that has taken place. That costs a lot of money and you have to pat Castel on the back for taking that on and for going through that very painful process. As a result of that we now have a business that is sustainable going forward. The question now is can we as retailers cut the mustard?"

Oddbins was founded in 1963 by the late Ahmed Pochee, who began supplying surplus bottles of wine from hotels to clubs and restaurants in the West End. Five years later he opened his first store in central London. His combination of informality and sourcing direct from producers was a hit as the chain took off. But his flair wasn't matched with business acumen and in 1973 the firm fell into administration, when it was snapped up by Nick Baile and Dennis Ing, whose tenure coincided with the boom in Australian wine. At one point Oddbins was responsible for more than a quarter of all Australian wine sales in Britain.

"The goodwill is massive," says Baile. "I have had e-mails from all around the world from people who have been associated with Oddbins wishing me luck. It's not a magic wand job, it's going to take a fair few months to get it how I want it. I don't want to look over my shoulder and say, 'Hey, we are going to reinvent the crazy days' because that is pretty difficult anyway.

"I want to re-ignite that passion for the product and give people an enjoyable experience. If we don't, then they will just walk around the supermarket with their trolley and say, 'I'll take five of those'."