Craft beer at WallyWorld? It's more likely than you think.

Looks like WalMart is set to step up its alcohol sales.

I've seen craft brew there for at least the last two years when I moved closer to one. They seem to keep it at room temp though.

I think it really depends on the store. We moved here about 3 years ago, and our wal mart has always carried the local craft beers. Not there whole line but the more popular ones and their seasonals. But when we lived in Wisconsin our wal mart didn't carry any craft beer, other than maybe sam adams.
But our bottle shop has a much better selection and is about the same price, so I tend to shop there.

The Wally Worlds around here might have an extremely modest selection of actual craft beer, and most of them have a modest selection of fake craft beer. The maijer stores seem to do pretty good, though, and carry a lot of West Michigan beers.

The Carson City, Nv Wally World, has Sam Adams, Fat Tire, Moose Drool, Down Town Brown, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Porter, IPA, and too many others to name, as I cannot remember them all. In my local store the "craft" beers are in an open front reefer box, and the BMC's and the like are in the glass front, open the door reefer box.
At least there are more than just crap beers to choose from. My family was recently in Flagstaff, Az, and we were blown away at the selections of craft beers. Granted this a College town, dammit. One store had 300 different craft beers, one had 800, one had 1200 different bottles to choose from. One store had a giant sale going on, 2.99 for 6 packs, and 0.99 bombers. For those prices, I am tempted to rent a truck.

Wal Mart has stepped up their craft beer game here. I've seen *****esse De Bourgogne of all things. The big store near me carries Sierra Nevada products at the best 6 pack prices around. The smaller 'neighborhood stores' have higher prices, though.

Kentucky is a 'three tier state' and I think that means that wholesale prices are all the same. Retailers then attach a markup. If Wal Mart's prices are lower that means they are accepting a lower margin. That's good for consumers and for craft brewers, I would think. WM seems obsessed with building grocery sales - they sponsor 'The Biggest Loser' and run commercials trying to convince people its OK to buy steaks at WM. Maybe they figure a lower margin on craft beer will drive traffic for people who will likely buy produce and meat.

Meijer, on the other hand, has the worst beer prices (highest margin) and they probably drive traffic with other deals (meat prices are really good) and hope you will buy beer just to avoid another trip to another store.

Obviously shopping around yields the best deal and I do not hate on WM's Sierra Nevada prices - a six pack of Bud is only a little cheaper (not even $2) than SNPA. You gotta want the blandness.

They've been carrying it around here for a while now. It's not really a new thing, but it's definitely going to be in select stores. The pre-requisites for carrying craft beer, are likely 1) It needs to be a Super Walmart with a true grocery section (these have become fairly common nowadays). 2) The store needs to be in an area where there are likely to be people that are in an income bracket that are likely to buy craft beer. 3) The selection is likely going to be limited to popular beers to the region and top nationally distributed brands. This is Walmart's way. A larger craft beer selection actually fits into Walmart's strategy to try to attract and retain more shoppers with >$50,000 HH income.

Or a neighborhood grocery Walmart. We've one near here. The only thing that looks Walmart about it is the name on the front, and even that's emerald green. The store is clad in limestone (or fake limestone) and the floors are engineered wood, ceramic tile and stained concrete. It looks much more upscale than the Super Walmart by the interstate, and no Wal-creatures.

We still prefer Kroger, Central Market or the local farmers market.

That's cool and all, but it's still Wal-Mart. They'll never see a dime of my money. Eff that corporation and their horrible business practices.

Walmart makes money. Craft Beer is hot, Walmart sells craft beer. Makes total sense to me.