Here is my input regarding my LHBS. Please keep in mind we have three of them in the area but they are all owned by the same company. They range in 15, 25 & 40 mins away from me. I've only been to the one 15 and 25 mins away. These shops are hydroponics stores with home brewing equipment. With all of that being said here we go.
Positives:
1. Close proximity (at least one of them).
2. Usually have the grains I need in a pinch.
3. Weigh out your own grains.
4. Mill to crush your grains if needed.
5. Has bottle caps, hoses, keg parts, etc... if I need them right away.
Negatives:
1. Staff usually seems put off by any questions I may have. Even when asking where something is for home brewing. Yet if someone is in there for hydroponics, its like a whole different person.
2. Staff isn't familiar with home brewing. If they are out of a grain or hop I'm looking for, they don't know a good substitution. Instead they provide me a print out (or look at it themselves) with substitutions. I could look this up myself. I understand not knowing every possible substitution but it would be nice for some experience and suggestions from someone who home brews.
3. Liquid yeast is hit or miss most of the times.
4. Hops stored in a fridge like the yeast, not a freezer.
5. One visit I asked if I could buy a sack of 2-row that was in the corner and was told sure. While being rung out by the associate that said it was ok, said (kind of snarky) "Next time call before next time so it doesn't mess up my inventory and ordering". Well if it was going to be an issue, you should have said something when I asked if I could buy the sack today. Needless to say, I now do group buys with my home brew club for much cheaper. But this type of attitude and what not was a turn off.
Things I would like to see and others have mentioned as well (no specific order):
1. Carry local products (hops, cider, honey, grains, etc...). I think this would be awesome and I would support it.
2. RO machine would be great!
3. CO2 refill or exchange option.
4. Friendly staff! Knowledgable and friendly staff would be even better!
5. Offer brewing courses/classes or something similar. A LHBS in MD every once and a while has a class where people sign up and pay, but can come in a brew a batch of beer at their location. Many people don't want to invest in the equipment needed before they try brewing. This would be a great way to get people interested with minimal monetary investments.
6. Have recipes printed out for people to take and try.
7. Customer loyalty program of some sort would be nice. 10% off coupons after every X number of purchases or after X amount of money spent. 15% off coupon for your birthday month. Or something similar.
8. Have some home brews available for tasting (if possible with state and county laws). This could be tied into the recipes available for customers to take home. If you make one of these recipes and people try them, they may want to brew it too. Maybe have the ingredients available as a "kit" marked for X price. Maybe slightly cheaper than what it would cost for them to piece it all together at your shop. For example, you have a Blonde Ale on tap and the recipe available for customers to take. It costs the customer $22 for all the ingredients if they were to pick it out themselves. But you have it all bundled together for $20 ready to go. I don't know how feasible this would be but just a thought.
9.
FRIENDLY STAFF!
I hope this helps and I wish you the best of luck! I wish I could open my own LHBS but it's not in the cards right now. So I'm jealous.