Coles' latest bid to loosen Dan Murphy's stranglehold on the booze market has homed in on sleepy, suburban Ringwood and the ever-so-quiet opening of its new Liquor Market store.

It's a business Coles barely wants to talk about, at least not yet, with insiders suggesting it only announced the so-called "trial store" after reports in the trade press.

Liquor Market's positioning line "Low Cost and So Much More" could set the scene for a pre-Christmas booze barney as Australia's two major supermarket giants slug it out over cut-price drinks.

It's already caught the attention of Martin Smith, the boss of Woolworths' $8 billion liquor retailing business, who fired the first salvo with a warning that liquor was far more competitive than grocery.