Home Brew supply store potential???

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GIusedtoBe

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Location
Knoxville TN
My background is in sales and not retail so i was wondering if anybody knew what kind of potential income an HBS store could produce in a medium sized town. I know there are a gazillion variables but we only have one HBS locally and they are nice guys but they don't advertise at all, are mostly knowledgeable about wine, keep bankers hours, and have a VERY limited supply.

Everytime I go in there, there are customers in there but these guys don't do anything to promote the hobby that I can see. I've asked about homebrew clubs around and they say there was one but they don't have a number or contact info. I would think the local HBS would be the mecca of a HB club???I knew more about brewing inside of 2 months of starting than these guys.

My thought is that a bigger and better HBS could do well here but like I said, I have no retail experience. Do you think HBS type "do it yourself" stores would do well in a recession? I would think that a good HBS would obviously appeal to beer snobs like us but also to the people that just want to brew some cheap swill.

What do you guys think?

Any feedback would be appreciated.
Al
 
If my income requirement wasn't as high as it is now (read: before wife and kids), I would open a shop in central NJ. I can drive 35 miles in just about any direction and hit a home brew shop, but none of them are that good and well, 70 miles round trip is too far. I think you have to try to establish what the home brew customer base is in your town. Getting involved in your closest homebrew club would be a good indicator. If they have 3 members, it probably means there are 7 homebrewers in town.

I actually think it's easier to make it when you compete directly with an established HBS that sucks bad. You can compete with longer hours and offer to host homebrewclub meetings on premises if your space affords that. Sure, you'll have to steal customers, some of which may be very loyal, but it can be done.
 
Home Brew Mart is expanding? Haven't been in a while since I brewed up a storm (taking time away from brewing to build a rig). Guess I might just be leaving work early to stop by for a few tasters.
 
1) How many brewers in your area?

2) Any other competing shops in nearby towns?

Do you live in Knoxville proper? Looks like quite a large population base that could be well serviced by a LHBS. I'm going to assume a bit, since your username is GIusedtobe and guess that you had some military service. Depending on time in etc, you could potentially qualify for all sorts of small business loans and business start-up assistance. If you really think you could handle all aspects of a full time business, I say go for it. My LHBS serves maybe half the population of your area and looks sucessful.
 
Displaced MassHole said:
Home Brew Mart is expanding? Haven't been in a while since I brewed up a storm (taking time away from brewing to build a rig). Guess I might just be leaving work early to stop by for a few tasters.
Click to expand...

Yup. They're going to utilize the office that is next door that doesn't get used. Hopefully it'll open up the place a bit, because it gets crowded.
 
Just remember the customer is always right. Do not get into retail if you do not want to deal with a lot of bs from people who are always in the wrong and deal with them with a friendly smile...
 
It might not be a bad time - politicians are hell bent on taxing internet sales within the next year so online demand may be tempered a bit creating more demand for a local supply, shipping costs are not dropping, the price of store bought beer continues to rise and the economy sucks so bad that people need to drink to forget about it...
 
carnevoodoo said:
Yup. They're going to utilize the office that is next door that doesn't get used. Hopefully it'll open up the place a bit, because it gets crowded.
Click to expand...

Good to see some other San Diego brewers on this forum. I didnt know Home Brew mart was expanding though.
 
I feel I have some expertise in this area, as I own a homebrew store. I have only been open for a little over a month. Here is some advice from things that I have learned opening up.

1. Make sure you get strong commitments from the Major Suppliers before you even begin to do anything else. Crosby and Baker, and LD Carlson will have to approve your store location, taking into account factors like population base, and local competition. If you can not convince them to sell to you, then you have no chance of being successful.

2. Make sure your business plan has a very good idea of the amount of inventory, and the storage needed to properly handle the amount you have. When I was doing my research a lot of inventory estimates were less than half of what it actually cost to have the inventory I wanted to have.

3. If you are going to have a website, do a lot of shopping around on the costs. Commercial websites are difficult to build, take a long time to complete, and cost a lot of money. Do not listen to everyone that says how easy it is to build the site, they have no idea just how big of a project it really is.

If you want some more advice PM me and I am more than willing to tell you my story of starting up BW.

Ed
 
GIusedtoBe said:
Do you think HBS type "do it yourself" stores would do well in a recession?
Al
Click to expand...

Those types of stores actually do best in a recessed economy and alcohol sales always go up....way up during recessions. The state run liquor stores here in Utah can not keep up with the demand, sales are going up an average of 6% a month. While all other businesses are in a dramatic decline.

I used to own a bar and all i can say is make sure you are well versed on all local, county and state regulations related to this type of business and retain a lawyer if you can.
 
Brewmasters Warehouse said:
I feel I have some expertise in this area, as I own a homebrew store. I have only been open for a little over a month. Here is some advice from things that I have learned opening up.

1. Make sure you get strong commitments from the Major Suppliers before you even begin to do anything else. Crosby and Baker, and LD Carlson will have to approve your store location, taking into account factors like population base, and local competition. If you can not convince them to sell to you, then you have no chance of being successful.

2. Make sure your business plan has a very good idea of the amount of inventory, and the storage needed to properly handle the amount you have. When I was doing my research a lot of inventory estimates were less than half of what it actually cost to have the inventory I wanted to have.

3. If you are going to have a website, do a lot of shopping around on the costs. Commercial websites are difficult to build, take a long time to complete, and cost a lot of money. Do not listen to everyone that says how easy it is to build the site, they have no idea just how big of a project it really is.

If you want some more advice PM me and I am more than willing to tell you my story of starting up BW.

Ed
Click to expand...

Bro- you just sold me.
If your willing to put your nuts on the line like this for someone else to open up a store and be your potential competition, then you've got my vote. I've seen your site and was impressed, I'll def throw some of my business your way. If you treat potential competition this way I can only imagine that you treat your customers even better.
 
Displaced MassHole said:
Bro- you just sold me.
If your willing to put your nuts on the line like this for someone else to open up a store and be your potential competition, then you've got my vote. I've seen your site and was impressed, I'll def throw some of my business your way. If you treat potential competition this way I can only imagine that you treat your customers even better.
Click to expand...

I am glad you are willing to give us a try. I promise you that our customers are treated very well.

I know that there is a lot of interest on this site about taking things pro in one way or another. I believe that if your dreams are to open a business you should follow them, if you can make it work. I learned a lot of things on the fly, and if I can help someone achieve their dreams through my experiences then I am more than willing to help. If you can not tell I am very passionate about that, and even more passionate about my store and customers.
 
Brewmasters Warehouse said:
I am glad you are willing to give us a try. I promise you that our customers are treated very well.

I know that there is a lot of interest on this site about taking things pro in one way or another. I believe that if your dreams are to open a business you should follow them, if you can make it work. I learned a lot of things on the fly, and if I can help someone achieve their dreams through my experiences then I am more than willing to help. If you can not tell I am very passionate about that, and even more passionate about my store and customers.
Click to expand...


Thanks for all of the replies from everyone. This idea struck me awhile back but I've only recently begun seriously thinking about this. The industry I am in now is very volatile and I would not be shocked to be outside looking in by the end of the year anyway.
If I started an HBS, (just local BTW) I could keep my current job and let my wife run the store in my absence and I would cover all of the off hours. The problem is that I have more questions than answers now so I'll probably take you up on your offer BW. I think the area could support a well run HBS and I have a lot of ideas that I think would be much more attractive than the current offering.

The biggest problem I have is predicting the potential net income from your average strip mall HBS to see if its even feasible. If it could'nt potentially replace my income when established then it would not be worth doing.

Thanks Again,
Al
 

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