How to start a home brew shop????

wshymas · 11-19-2006, 04:22 PM

A friend of mine is opening a liquor store and he is toying with the idea of selling some home brew supplies. He asked me for any ideas on how to start, who to call, ect.... any suggestions will help.

**david_42** · 11-19-2006, 05:55 PM

He is certainly taking the right approach in combining selling homebrewing supplies with something that actually produces income. How many people are in the area? Any clue about the number of homebrewers?

At first, he will probably want to purchased prepackaged supplies from places like freshops, briess, white labs, etc. I'd say no kits, but canned unhopped extract and dried extracts would be a good idea. Stay away from liquid yeasts or only stock a few of the more standard ones. Three or four brewing books. Bottles, but not kegging equipment. Except keg o-ring kits. Kettles, burners, etc. are too expensive to stock at first.

And the most important one: Does he brew himself? I doubt he will succeed if he doesn't. Homebrewers expect advice, lots of it, free.

Ryan_PA · 11-20-2006, 02:20 PM

Contact the major distributors, for exapmle, LD Carlson. On Carlson's website they have a page dedicated to the steps needed to become a retailer:

http://www.ldcarlson.com/new%20account%20inquiries.htm

skou · 11-20-2006, 10:43 PM

I like the idea of the liquor store and HBS. There is one in Honolulu, (at least, it was there in 2000, when I lived there) that has both. It works OK, and she was able to survive, selling beers and liquors. Unfortunately, it was about 3/4 mile away from the best (Oahu Homebrew) HBS in the state.

steve

aekdbbop · 11-21-2006, 06:07 PM

god i wish someone started one here...

but there is actually a microbrewery coming in right down the street, thats just as fun i think!

rdwj · 11-21-2006, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aekdbbop

god i wish someone started one here...

but there is actually a microbrewery coming in right down the street, thats just as fun i think!

My LHBS is a micro too. I just went there over lunch - picked up some supplies and grabbed a few bottles of their stuff. I think it's a great revenue stream considering they're already experts.

gonzoflick · 11-22-2006, 01:41 AM

It would be a dream to start one. If you had the right vision it could be done. If I was convinced I could support my family on such an income I would start one tommorow. I have some good ideas thought that might let me open a store later on in life.

Keep the idea open aways because as someone as passionet about beer as all of us here, turning new people onto good stuff and a good hobby every day at work would rock that house bigtime!

**the_bird** · 11-22-2006, 01:43 AM

It would be a lot of fun, but I can't imagine it proving to be a very profitable venture. Even the best stores, it seems, are barely getting by. You need a SWMBO who is both very understanding and very gainfully employed!