cweston
Well-Known Member
My nearest LHBS is in Topeka, about an hour's drive. Now, Topeka is not the kind of town that's really going to draw people in, let's just leave it at that. Nobody in my town goes to Topeka for excitement, because Kansas City is only an hour further.
Anyway, I went in there a couple weeks ago to pick up some Wyeast 1056 or Safale 56 (they don't carry white labs.) I had a few other errands to run in Topeka, and yeast is one thing I'd rather not mail order if I can avoid it.
They were out of both. Had nothing that could acceptably substitute.
Of course, neither their prices nor their selection can compete with More Beer or Austin Homebrew or the like.
A LHBS is in a real catch-22: ingredients are perishable and obviously they don't want to have a huge inventory of yeast, hops, etc. But if they can't compete on price and selection, and they don't have something as basic as 1056 in stock, why are people going to go there?
(Besides, it's in a seedy neghborhood and the store reeks of cat urine...)
It's got to be a tough business to make a go of.
Anyway, I went in there a couple weeks ago to pick up some Wyeast 1056 or Safale 56 (they don't carry white labs.) I had a few other errands to run in Topeka, and yeast is one thing I'd rather not mail order if I can avoid it.
They were out of both. Had nothing that could acceptably substitute.
Of course, neither their prices nor their selection can compete with More Beer or Austin Homebrew or the like.
A LHBS is in a real catch-22: ingredients are perishable and obviously they don't want to have a huge inventory of yeast, hops, etc. But if they can't compete on price and selection, and they don't have something as basic as 1056 in stock, why are people going to go there?
(Besides, it's in a seedy neghborhood and the store reeks of cat urine...)
It's got to be a tough business to make a go of.