In the Rochester, NY area, we have a total of 4 homebrew stores, 2 and 2 are the same company in different locations, one being a GREAT beer store (Beers of World) but a pretty mediocre homebrew store and the other a hydoponics store. As you can see, neither is dedicated to homebrewing at all.
Each store has an unknowledgable staff, lack of product, horrible organization, and each is generally overpriced.
Everytime I walk into one of them for brew supplies, it really drives me closer to
I am really just sick of the lack of enthusiasm in the HBing community around here starting with the LHBS.
Now, my LHBS dream is not going to become a reality anytime soon as SWMBO and I still have to figure out what is going to happen once she has the letters "p," "h," and "d," after her name ( :rockin:yay riding on the curtails of success:rockin: ).
But this got me thinking: if I were to open my own gig eventually, what do you, the viewer at home, prefer more when doing your local homebrewing grocery shopping?
I personally say a good variety and actual STOCK of supplies as that is what is lacking most here in the ROC. Price is not too much of an issue for me with the local market as I really do like to support the local economy and generally the higher prices offset the cost of shipping online (aside from online deals, etc). Plus, if a business is good enought to carry as much product as possible, I feel they deserve the money to keep it available to me on a moments notice.
Each store has an unknowledgable staff, lack of product, horrible organization, and each is generally overpriced.
Everytime I walk into one of them for brew supplies, it really drives me closer to
- A) solely shopping online and
- B) opening up my own LHBS
I am really just sick of the lack of enthusiasm in the HBing community around here starting with the LHBS.
Now, my LHBS dream is not going to become a reality anytime soon as SWMBO and I still have to figure out what is going to happen once she has the letters "p," "h," and "d," after her name ( :rockin:yay riding on the curtails of success:rockin: ).
But this got me thinking: if I were to open my own gig eventually, what do you, the viewer at home, prefer more when doing your local homebrewing grocery shopping?
I personally say a good variety and actual STOCK of supplies as that is what is lacking most here in the ROC. Price is not too much of an issue for me with the local market as I really do like to support the local economy and generally the higher prices offset the cost of shipping online (aside from online deals, etc). Plus, if a business is good enought to carry as much product as possible, I feel they deserve the money to keep it available to me on a moments notice.