Favorite Thing(s) about your LHBS

Doing some R&D trying to figure out what everyone likes most about there local homebrew stores. We try and offer up our knowledge, warm welcomes, and the best stock of supplies we can afford to carry, but sometimes that just isn't enough. What is that "extra mile" that YOUR LHBS offers to you?

Cheers!

Nick

I appreciate that the store I use brews in the back on Saturdays and everyone is welcome to come and watch, help out, get some helpful hints and advice. Builds confidence in a NB to watch some one who knows what they are doing.

I love my girl at my local. She knows me by face, name, if i call in an order, e-mail address, etc. And I've only been going to her for maybe a couple of yrs now.
Also I love the fact that she knows the styles I like, which is everything, but she at least can point me in the right direction.
Also if she is running low on the hard to find items she'll put somethings aside, like hops, yeast, for me. Kind of like under the counter sort of thing,lol
which I do appreciate, aslo the tutorials monthly, where she'll brew up some abstract Frankenstien type thing and let you "sample" when ready.
H

What you are doing is what I like--share knowledge, chat about beers, offer advice on a new ingredient or a substitute. If I just wanted stuff, I could order it anywhere. I like the personal interaction.

Off-topic, I see that in addition to me, we now have a DirtyOldDuck and a Duckbrew. Strange duck theme going on here lately. Hey, Duckbrew, you aren't a lawyer are you? Because the other two of us are, and that would be weird.

Don't have any, mine suck. I go through Norther Brewer or Midwest for everything. You want to be successful, don't suck.

Schemy said:

... You want to be successful, don't suck.

Click to expand...

That's not good advice for a prostitute...

Here is a list of things I enjoy at my LHBS

• Friendly, knowledgeable staff!
• Have everything clearly displayed
• Well stocked
• Organized store by similar items
• Keep all inventory of hops and yeast out in glass door refrigerators
• Large grain room with multiple scales and mills
• Large aisles with enough room for 2 carts to pass each other

I also like it when I go up to the cashier and they can guess what style of beer I'm making by the ingredients purchased. I think of it as a game, Try and stomp the cashier!

When I pop in to my LHBS with my 9 month old daughter, they'll bag up the specialty grain for me or carry the sack of base malt to my car. Makes it very easy. Also, I've spent enough money there to qualify for the lifetime 10% off everything (except Blichmann).

I'd suggest having free beer n tap (beer you brewed on premises) and guest tap from your customers. Having these samples available draws customers and give customers a visual ad taste to go with the recipe they choose from your library of recipes. For those of us who formulate our own recipes it gives us an added bonus for coming in to the homebrew shop. (usually leaving with something in hand)

Also, taking the approach that this is how we suggest brewing, but you can do it many ways... is always best. I used to go to a homebrew shop that was very set in their ways and would be combative if you suggested anything other than how they recommended.

lastly, CHEAP... My LHBS is 40-50% cheaper than any other shop locally. I know they buy a lot in BULK and thus they have a ton of stuff. It is pretty hard and expensive to have a lot of inventory, but if your customers know they don't ever have to go anywhere else for anything, you have automated client retention. good luck to you and applaud you for doing market research.

One more thing...

Have a kick @$$ user friendly website!

I am in Springfield, Mo my LHBS in 10min away and they are Great! All the guys are very helpful and always willing to offer a good brew tip. They have a good supply (key) and will try and get any thing for there people.
They have also started doing classes every couple weeks everything from Extract to basic AG to advanced AG. Also they hold Local HB club meetings once a month at the store after hours. The HomeBrewery is my store and I am very glad it is near by cause I dint like to wait on stuff to show up in the mail. Oh ya they know me by name and every one that has been coming in for a few times as well.
They also started a costumer Loyalty program at the start of the year and that rocks. Very cool for them to show that kins of thanks to those who with out them would probably screw up more beer than we do. THANKS HOMEBREWERY!!!!!!! The best brew store in my opinion. There Kits for Extract are very good as well If anyone needed to order one I have made a bunch of them and never disappointed.

fletchsj said:

I'd suggest having free beer n tap (beer you brewed on premises) and guest tap from your customers. Having these samples available draws customers and give customers a visual ad taste to go with the recipe they choose from your library of recipes. For those of us who formulate our own recipes it gives us an added bonus for coming in to the homebrew shop. (usually leaving with something in hand)
...

Click to expand...

That's not possible for many homebrew shops, unless they have a liquor license. There's one near me that does that, but the guy runs the business out of his basement at his house. He can get away with that because his house is his residence.

My "local" hosts a "homebrewer appreciation party" each May at a park with food and music and everyone gets to bring their homebrew to share. They also host a homebrew competition and announce winners at the party.

The evening before they have homebrewing seminars nearby so you can attend those, then stay the night and party all day the next day.

Besides that, they are VERY well stocked and carry cigars, tons of beer and wine, cheesemaking equipment and have started to carry breadmaking stuff as well. And the people there are very smart about homebrewing and they all brew themselves as far as I know.

grain is self service. you measure and crush it yourself, then go to the register and tell them what you got. maybe that's common?

also, they let you bring your own base grain from home if you buy in bulk, and crush it with the specialty grains you're buying from them. also common? idk

bmbigda said:

grain is self service. you measure and crush it yourself, then go to the register and tell them what you got. maybe that's common?

Click to expand...

This - on a high-quality mill with a big dial so I can adjust the gap myself.

All great suggestions! I wish I could offer homebrew, but in Colorado you do have to have a liquor license to distribute alcohol

I am thinking of trying something new called the "Local Homebrews Kits" where we have a homebrew comp and the top however many beers (haven't decided how many styles) get made into a kits and put on our website with the local homebrew's photo and brewing story for people to purchase and try for themselves. Also the winners would get some kind of gift certificate or discount of some sort to the shop.

From what I see in the replys, we are doing ok! We have friendly helpfull and knowledgeable staff, a help yourself grain room, as much stuff as we can stock, we allow people to bring grain from home to mill, we have pick up in store option from our website so you can reserve stuff at any time. We invite people to come brew when we do brew days at the shop in the back.

Thanks everyone for putting in your $0.02! We are only about 6 months old and are trying to be the best hombrew store we can be!

Been ripped off twice in a row by my local shop. $6 last time. Not worth going back to *****. They use a mickey mouse register that doesn't print item descriptions so by the time I realized I was overcharged, I was at home. So from now on, I will buy only 2 or 3 different things max so that I can call the clerk on it. Frankly I think the guy is just dumb.

The only thing I like about them is the fresh yeast and the convenience of loading up grains and crushing them at a reasonable price. Everything else is a rip. DME is $18 for 3#.

My LHBS has fresh, quality, and hard to find ingredients and equipment at the best price locally. The grain mill is fantastic and they are knowledgeable, helpful, and supportive. I won't go anywhere else in town.

The free beer on tap is nice but what really makes me love my LHBS are the couple of the guys there who know so much about home-brewing it makes my head spin.

badbrew said:

Been ripped off twice in a row by my local shop. $6 last time. Not worth going back to *****. They use a mickey mouse register that doesn't print item descriptions so by the time I realized I was overcharged, I was at home. So from now on, I will buy only 2 or 3 different things max so that I can call the clerk on it. Frankly I think the guy is just dumb.

The only thing I like about them is the fresh yeast and the convenience of loading up grains and crushing them at a reasonable price. Everything else is a rip. DME is $18 for 3#.

Click to expand...

Which shop is this? The one I've been to (they have two shops open) has really hard to understand receipts, which kind of bugs me. If it's the one I'm thinking of, I'll grab yeast from them or a small item I need right away, but won't be doing any more large purchases from them.

In response to Sitting Duck. I am NOT a lawyer just a Ducks Unlimited volunteer who likes to name his brew after duck species.

My LHBS has an online order form - fill out what you need, when you want to pick it up and contact info and they put it together for you. They're really good about making substitutions if they're out of something, too. SUPER convenient!

I love the knowledge that my lhbs has. You can't get answers like that from an online company. They offer rewards to their customers. They have a nice selection of tried and true recipes at their fingertips. Their inventory is plentiful. Their website is full of brewing tutorials and of course you can buy online. I feel as though I'm in an adult candy store whenever I go there.

I like being able to swing by on my lunch break and quickly get my ingredients. There's multiple stores nearby and one already has 10lb bags of 2 row they crush that day. That definitely makes it a quicker trip.

Some posters already mentioned receipts. Another place nearby prints detailed receipts with each ingredient, even separating the different grains. Other stores give you a tiny receipt from an ancient machine with the grand total so you don't know how much each item was.

Similar to others -- good knowledge, able to suggest substitutions, discounts for repeat customers, mill my grains and bag them for me. And no waiting! They will usually assemble an order for me same-day, I just e-mail them my grain bill.

Here's another. One lhbs has a program where they sell you 50 lb of 2row for $36 and they keep track of your usage. If you only need 20 lbs for a brew then they will log that into the computer and next time you come in there's 30lb on your account. Keep using your 50lb until its eventually gone.

It's great because it's 72 cents a pound instead of $1. Also the lhbs has a much higher chance of repeat customers if people have prepaid their grain.

Tons of grain selection, abilility to buy sacks in bulk, and good prices - competitive enough to not order online.

What they have to offer, they lack in customer service as they are VERY opinionated and share their dislike for certain styles of beer when not asked.

However, the selection is good enough as well as the prices to go back and put up with the childish behavior.

Well aside from a knowledgeable staff, great grain selection, good prices, good hop selection @ $2/oz, and support for the local homebrew clubs...

The bar with local and hard to find beers on tap clinches it.

Plus they are building a brewhouse...

No longer a hassle to have to run to the brewshop, even during rush hour