Lhbs

Pretty excited that we're getting close to opening a small LHBS. Closed on the building last week, doing a little remodel, etc. Purpose of this thread is to ask the masses, what "Services" they either like, or wished that their LHBS offered. There's no local Brewing Club and we've got plenty of space, so that's one that is on our list, but what else would people look for in a Service oriented LHBS?

Several thoughts on LHBS's, feel free to ignore:

1.) The best service you can provide is to stock a wide variety and a large quantity
2.) Brewing classes aren't really helpful but they are social events which may benefit your business
3.) Brew clubs are ok if you have regular members willing to share homebrew and give feedback, do presentations etc... (i.e. not just drink)
4.) Ordering online is mostly cheaper than ordering at a LHBS (even with shipping), can you price match?
5.) A good attitude, a willingness to talk shop and a "place to go" carries some weight
6.) Get a good mill, give a good crush and maintain the darn thing

Carrying name brand suplies for a competitive price is a big one. Of course the usual array of caps,cappers,LME,DME,dextrose,etc. And the little gadgets like bottle washers,brushes, lid prying tools,tubing,airlocks,etc. Just to name a few...good luck with the shop!

Check with your local laws first but I love it when my lhbs has there kits on tap so you can taste what its like before buying.

mrrshotshot said:

Check with your local laws first but I love it when my lhbs has there kits on tap so you can taste what its like before buying.

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Sadly this is Pennsylvania, home of the most archaic blue laws in the country. Although there's a push for privatization of the Liquor control board.

Gunfighter04 said:

Sadly this is Pennsylvania, home of the most archaic blue laws in the country. Although there's a push for privatization of the Liquor control board.

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That used to be SC for the first 38 years I lived here!

I like that i can get my co2 tanks filled while im in. right up the street and I can pick up some supplies while they are filling me up (see what i did there?!). maybe hire some foxxy beer-geek chicks?

Organize "group buy" ie offer big discount on full sack of grain, ask people to preorder and pickup within few days of delivery, do it every month, quoter or 6months depend on interest and get lots of ppl to ur store this way. People will drive long distance to pick up base malt for cheap and lots of them will buy other stuff they need in the same time

Polboy said:

Organize "group buy" ie offer big discount on full sack of grain, ask people to preorder and pickup within few days of delivery, do it every month, quoter or 6months depend on interest and get lots of ppl to ur store this way. People will drive long distance to pick up base malt for cheap and lots of them will buy other stuff they need in the same time

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This! My LHBS does this. You buy a sack of base malt at a discounted price per lb and as you take it away they deduct it from your total until its time to buy a new sack.

mrrshotshot said:

This! My LHBS does this. You buy a sack of base malt at a discounted price per lb and as you take it away they deduct it from your total until its time to buy a new sack.

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this is what I do at MoreBeer.

pay for a "virtual" sack of grain at sack price, but they keep that "on account" for me. Then when I go I just take what I need from the bulk bins, mill it, and take it home, along with whatever specialty grains I am buying.

I see no reason to buy a mill because this system works so well for me.

911 whoops i forgot (what ever you happened to forget). service would be pretty cool

Be friendly, I am so tired of walking into a business and being treated like they are doing me a favor by acknowledging my presence, and then for bonus points talking down to me even though I have great experience about the sport/hobby we are discussing.

Be friendly and be willing to special order things if possible.

Oh and if possible have a website with what is available and possibly prices maybe not every single item but the major stuff. Not for online shopping but comparing. My town has two shops, one with items online shop with not much more then where they are and their phone number. Guess which one I went to this morning? Drove an extra 15 minutes to get there.

Gunfighter04 said:

Sadly this is Pennsylvania, home of the most archaic blue laws in the country. Although there's a push for privatization of the Liquor control board.

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my lhbs has a few things on tap... (in pa)

atom said:

my lhbs has a few things on tap... (in pa)

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We're working on a liquor license, but since they are restricted by county, getting one that isn't tied to an existing business for sale has proven to be difficult.

We have one that we just made an offer on so we'll see how it goes. Our next step is actually a Craft beer sales/LHBS. There are about 4 different kinds of Liquor licenses in the state, if we get an R type we'll be able to sell up to a 12 pack. (going to do the mix and match 6 packs) If it were a distributer license then you can't sell less than a case at a time, and you couldn't drink on site. The LHBS will be opening the beginning of May, hopefully the craft beer sales will follow in the June/July time frame.

I figured that was digressing a bit from Homebrewing so I didn't mention it the first go around.

Thanks for all the comments so far. All very good points.

I like having self service grain and milling. Not that I don't trust the shop owners when they grind it for you or anything like that, but I actually enjoy going and scooping the grains, weighing them out, and doing the grinding. Now if I was in a pinch my LHBS would certainly prepare it all for me for sure, and I drive to a further homebrew shop just to do this.

I also like good customer service, and having staff that are really knowledgeable and personable. Nothing is worse then going to a shop where you want to ask questions and actually have a discussion on a given topic, and have the staff just be rude and short. Both my LHBS are great for this.

Carry lots of the smaller items that people wouldn't want to have to pay for shipping on. I'd even go so far as to pay a little extra to not have to pay for shipping, and get that instant gratification of carrying it home.

Try to be competitive with prices. When ever I see my LHBS with the exact same price (or sometimes even lower) than online on a particular item I almost always buy it. Case in point I was at my LHBS last week and saw they had 3-peice airlocks for $0.99. Northern brewer has them at $1.25 and Austin Homebrew has them for $1.29. Now its not that much cheaper but I went ahead an bought three, even though I didn't need any at the time just in case (I had recently broke one while cleaning it somehow). Same goes for kegs. The same trip I ended up walking out with a starter keg kit because they were cheaper than buying online by the time you factor in shipping and filling the empty CO2 bottle.

These threads come up every once in a while, there are probably some great ideas if you search through the other ones.

An important one for me is cleanliness and organization. Have all the grains very well organized and neatly labelled in bins, and keep everything clean. Having a mess of half empty grain sacks, ziplock bags, handwritten labels, etc. makes me want to walk right out. As does a 3" layer of grain dust covering everything.

Someone on Reddit recently asked the same question. This was my answer:

There are a lot of LHBS where I live and I buy most of my ingredients from the one furthest away because they have the best selection (over 300 grains), price ($29.50 for a sack of Pale Malt 2-row) and customer service. They have a great website where, once you have an account, you can add things to your cart and they will still be there the next time you log on, or until you buy or delete.

Also, because they are in the outer burbs, they offer delivery to various drop off points around town twice a week for $5. You can also call them when they are closed if you have a "brewing emergency" and they will try and help you out. They actually advertise that they will do this.

Selection, prices, and services - concentrate on these and you will have a great store.

Be sure to keep many varieties of hops and yeast in stock.

I never have problems at my LHBS with anything but they very often fall short on the yeast or hops I need so those items I usually order somewhere else ahead of time so I'm not in a bind

Make sure your staff knows brewing and loves it themselves. It drives me nuts to ask a question only to get back a blank stare. They must know the products and know the processes inside and out. If you can encourage them to brew with steep employee discounts and encourage them with incentives to surf the boards and read books it will help out. It never ceases to amaze when I go to a LHBS and they have a whole section of books and the numbskull working has never read one and, further, the same numbskull says, "I've never brewed beer, but I'm thinking about trying it."

Polboy said:

Organize "group buy" ie offer big discount on full sack of grain, ask people to preorder and pickup within few days of delivery, do it every month, quoter or 6months depend on interest and get lots of ppl to ur store this way. People will drive long distance to pick up base malt for cheap and lots of them will buy other stuff they need in the same time

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I 2nd, take the bigger home brewers money too. I use at least a 55lb sack per brew day. I have no problem buying 10 sacks at a time.

Gunfighter04 said:

Pretty excited that we're getting close to opening a small LHBS. Closed on the building last week, doing a little remodel, etc. Purpose of this thread is to ask the masses, what "Services" they either like, or wished that their LHBS offered. There's no local Brewing Club and we've got plenty of space, so that's one that is on our list, but what else would people look for in a Service oriented LHBS?

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parking.
actually open good hours including weekends
competitive pricing.
stock acctually in stock.

rayfound said:

this is what I do at MoreBeer.

pay for a "virtual" sack of grain at sack price, but they keep that "on account" for me. Then when I go I just take what I need from the bulk bins, mill it, and take it home, along with whatever specialty grains I am buying.

I see no reason to buy a mill because this system works so well for me.

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I didnt know morebeer did that.

Thanks for this thread, I get the keys to my shop on the 1st and am also very interested in what will help me be successfull and make everybody enjoy shopping with us. I have a big order of cornys coming in this week, not a big markup but its one of those things i would like to offer to help people get in the store and establish a customer base. Also got a whole bunch of simcoe. Good luck on your venture!

My lhbs has a "grain card" system.
You buy a grain card for $50. When you get grain, they deduct from the card at a 10% savings. Win win for everybody.

Prices! Yes,you should have prices for everything. My lhbs has no prices marked for anything! Very annoying having to ask what the price is on every item you need when there are 3 other customers waiting.

There are 2 stores close to me, one is run by a businessman and the other is run by a couple who are home brewers. One store's prices are higher, at the other, i am warmly greeted by name when I enter. You can guess which one gets my business.

One of the coolest things my LHBS used to do was have quarterly "brew-together" events, where anyone could bring their gear and ingredients and brew out back of the building.

There would typically be around 8 to 10 brews going with lots of interest from non-brewing spectators, and once everyone was well into their boils folks would break out their home brew samples.

From my observations there were at least a handful of people at each event that you just knew were going to give home brewing some serious thought. And then there were the ones that went straight into the store and picked up a starter setup.

Sadly, my LHBS grew too large for the old building and the landlord for their new space put the brakes on the outdoor brewing thing. Too bad, those were always fun times...

Cheers!

I would make an attempt to get younger brewers involved. if they get addicted like I did the influx of income would be significant and sustained over a long period of time

The biggest thing that keeps me going to a lhbs is base grain pricing. One of the local stores in my area sells 2 row for $42 a sack. Considering the cheapest I can get grain shipped is around $60 I'll continue to patronize the afore mentioned shop for everything except bulk hops purchases. Quite a few of the local stores have decided to try and make a profit by gouging, and while I fully understand that retail outfits need to make a profit, $3.50 per ounce for cascade pellets is ridiculous.

Service what you sell...CO2
Teach monthly brew classes....one extract and one AG
Have an accessible web site....less fluff and more content
Hire an educated staff....nothing worse than arrogant idiots
A rewards program makes consumers think they are getting something for their business

The big one for me is inventory. Invest in inventory. Nothing discourages me more from going back to a store than regularly seeing items out of stock or being told they have to be ordered. This goes for any retail. My other hobby is cycling. I regularly visit the more pricey bike shop in town because it has plenty of stock on parts and staff to help with their volume of customers. Same with my LHBS. I don't shop online because they have everything I have ever needed from a brew shop.

A friendly and knowledgable staff is a bonus and would be second on my list, followed by competitive pricing.

zachattack said:

An important one for me is cleanliness and organization. Have all the grains very well organized and neatly labelled in bins, and keep everything clean. Having a mess of half empty grain sacks, ziplock bags, handwritten labels, etc. makes me want to walk right out. As does a 3" layer of grain dust covering everything.

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I envy your HBS. Everything at mine is prebagged 1 lb specialty and 1, 5, 10 lb base with whole sack options. I would love to be able to dig portions of a pound out of a bin. I can see how it would be a pain, especially in the space available to do this at mine, but...

JUST_BREW_IT said:

I would make an attempt to get younger brewers involved. if they get addicted like I did the influx of income would be significant and sustained over a long period of time

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Not to mention that the younger crowds seem to have a harder time budgeting and will spend.

Everyone has pretty much said it. Friendly knowledgable Staff, Selection, Pricing.

CO2 Refills over swaps on site are always great, but there are probably understandable safety and staffing constraints on that. Not to mention that I love the grain card/group buy options.

I know it shouldn't have to be stated but greeting your customers with a friendly "Hi, how are you doing? Can I help you?" is a good start. I don't really care how great a store's inventory or selection is, if I feel disrespected or unwanted by the store's staff then I'll go to another business. There is a one LHBS here in Raleigh that treated me rudely on my first visit and I only ever go there to refill my CO2. I purchase everything else through other vendors.

DrunkleJon said:

I envy your HBS. Everything at mine is prebagged 1 lb specialty and 1, 5, 10 lb base with whole sack options. I would love to be able to dig portions of a pound out of a bin. I can see how it would be a pain, especially in the space available to do this at mine, but...

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Yeah I've been to a shop that was as messy as I described. I was trying to grab ingredients for my first all grain, and couldn't find anything at all. It was a disgusting mess, it even took an employee a good 15 minutes to get my grainbill together. "British pale ale malt? Oh I dunno where that is, let me look over here. Or maybe it's in this walk in fridge. Oh, I found a sack, it was under the table!"

Modern Homebrew in Cambridge MA is my LHBS now. They have such a beautifully organized inventory. A whole corner is dedicated for grains, and everything's in tupperwares, it's well labeled and clearly laid out. There are 5-6 different scales for hops, small amounts of grain, large amounts of grain, etc. They have different sized plastic bags, each with a label saying how many pounds of grain they're good for. Hops and yeast are well-organized with labels visible through fridge so you don't have to dig through everything with the door open.

Here are some pictures I found on Yelp. This is really my favorite thing about this shop.

Part of the grain selection:


Organized fridge:

zachattack said:

Part of the grain selection:

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Wonder where they sourced those bins. They look perfect

I also plan on getting some t-shirts made... some full color one for me and some black on white to give away with orders over 100 or 150? Its always nice to get a free t-shirt plus its free marketing! The shop Im had some made with the saying on the back " Thank you homebrewing for making my alcoholism seem like a neat hobby" I happened to be there when he got his order in so he gave me one. I wore that tshirt everywhere, and it actually had alot of people askiing me if i actually brewed my own beer.
Comments?

Gunfighter04 said:

Wonder where they sourced those bins. They look perfect

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I'm not sure, but they are perfect. This is less than half of their total selection. The large bins on the floor are for base malts, and they fit into carts that are on casters. So you can easily wheel them out of the way.

Don't just offer to mill their grains, offer to mill it to their needs. There can be a huge difference, granted it'll be a PITA. Especially if they don't know what they want or need.

Create your own kits. They can buy most things elsewhere, but not your kits.

Tried and true recipe book?

I just had the best experience of good customer service from my LHBS. The other day I went in to fill a recipe and they did not have my preferred base malt--they had just run out. I bought an alternative. They just called because they are ordering grain and they wanted to make sure my preferred grain was on the list--so they were checking to make sure they had it down right which one was it. They also asked if there were any other specialty malts they could order.

I have developed friendships with the clerks there and will even help other customers find the right products when the clerks are busy helping others. A place like that I will gladly support with my business.