BrewerBrad82
Well-Known Member
It's a bummer that your LHBS is closing. It's such an amazing thing to have that place you can go if you need that last minute thing or want to brew on short notice.
I've gone through this over the last couple years. I live in Minneapolis/St. Paul Minnesota. My LHBS was Northern Brewer. They didn't have much for advanced equipment, but you could always count on a full shelf and that the ingredients had been churned through quickly and what was on the shelf was fresh. It wasn't long before I started brewing that some investor bought both Northern Brewer, and the other big store around here, Midwest Supplies. When AbInbev bought that investor out, they wiped out 90% of the LHBS around here. (I don't consider anything AbInbev owns to be "local".)
Fortunately there is one other LHBS around here. Brew & Grow. I'm lucky that they are in my corner of the cities. They are a good store and I can't complain since I have access locally. I've experienced a few quality control issues there, but I'm happy to be able to get what I need near by.
What LHBS got wiped out? I have been brewing in Minneapolis for over a decade and I am not aware of any shops in the Twin Cities shutting down...