What does your LHBS do to keep you coming back?

[chiaroscuro]

Its been a while since I lived near a really good LHBS and I'm wondering what your local store does that keeps you coming back. I'd like to help improve my local store or start my own. Here's some examples:

One store I read about allows people to buy in at full sack prices for grain and then tracks your use so that you always have fresh grain and don't have to store a full sack at home.

One store refills PBW, One Step, etc for a discount.

I'm wondering what your stores do that keeps you happy and a loyal customer.

 

[houndsbreath]

My LHBS refills LME containers for a discount if you bring your own. Other than that, I just like hanging out with the funky people that work there!

 

[Shawnylocks]

so far i have brewed 3 batches and my lhbs has really taken me in and shared information and helped describe what it is im doing and why im doing it. so really id have to say the interaction with customers is great and very friendly. prices dont seem too bad either

 

[cyberwollf]

Other than that, I just like hanging out with the funky people that work there!

Mine is within walking distance from the house so I have become pretty good friends with the 2 guys that work there

 

[FatherJack]

My local store's owner has the personality of wet cardboard. I can't stand him. Thus, I don't frequent there much.

 

[Fennis]

I've only been to my lhbs twice, and both times I felt like I was either interrupting something or they wanted me to just grab what I wanted and get out. So, I have resorted to buying from places online like Austin Homebrew Supply or Northern Brewer. They are cheaper anyway.

 

[unionrdr]

So far,mine has been helpful with advice,hop substitutions, that sort of thing. I always wondered if they ever have some sort of events. Hasn't said anything so far. I find it amusing that,sometimes,I know more than they do about little things. The Burton water salts being the most recent.
But decent folks just the same.

 

[subliminalurge]

and both times I felt like I was either interrupting something or they wanted me to just grab what I wanted and get out.

Same with mine. In addition, they're not really well stocked. They only carry the bare essentials in the first place, and on top of that are frequently out of stuff.

What keeps me coming back? Eh, just the fact that they're the only one in town and sometimes I don't want to wait for shipping.

It wouldn't take very much at all for a new shop to win my business away from them.

 

[beergolf]

I try to support mine as much as possible. He is always well stocked with stuff, seems to move a lot of product so it is very fresh. Only occasionally has he not had something that I need. He will crush grains for me, even stuff I did not buy from him because he did not stock a specific grain I needed. His hop prices are a little on the high side but he always has most everything I need. This time of year he is out of a few varieties but will have them in again soon.

I am about 2 miles away. One brew day he saved my day because I started my boil and realized I forgot something that I needed. I had my wife drop the hop additions at the times I told her while I ran to his shop to get what I needed. Brew saved...

Having a good LHBS is a great thing.

 

[paulster2626]

Mine charges twice as much for bottles as the brew-your-own beer place down the street. Also, he charges me $10 to mill some grains in this big-ass mill that literally takes 30 seconds max for 10lbs. Yeah I can understand charging someone for that, but when I'm spending $150+ on equipment at the same time, you could cut me bit of a break. Especially when I see you do it.

Oh well, I've since made friends with said brew-your-own guy, and he can get any grain, yeast or hop I need, and I've bought a mill from another place. So I'm good to go now!

Oh wait, you said what do they do to keep me as a customer...

 

[phenry]

My LHBS has brewing ingredients/equipment. I go back when I run out of ingredients.

They also have reasonable prices and a pretty friendly staff, so I guess that helps.

 

[Ramitt]

Friendly knowledgeable staff, good selection of equipment and supplies, with decent prices. I tend to be a spur of the moment brewer, so that helps also.

 

[CidCitrus]

The owner of mine keeps his beer on tap in the store and lets his customers sample about 5 oz. or so. He's also really friendly, mills the grain for free, and when i was getting ingredients together for a pumpkin ale he took my recipe and got everything for me. Also there's a really cool bar accross the street called the Pour House. All of this seems engineered to keep me going there.

 

[Pappers_]

I am deeply fortunate, I live near a good LHBS, only a 10 minute drive. Its BevArt, on Chicago's southside. Its small, but they are always friendly, and usually have what I'm looking for. I always leave there feeling like my business has been appreciated.

 

[Revvy]

Has everything I could imagine in stock at reasonable prices. They store all their yeast and hops properly. All the staff are experienced brewers, are friendly, knowledgeable and passionate about beer and brewing. The store is immaculately clean and bright. They have quite a lot of turnover so ingredients are fresh. They host two AHA big brew days with hundreds of folks participating.

They were the first and only homebrewshop in the Metro Detroit for years. They're an institution. They carry pretty much everything...I mean it, in terms of bulk grain, hops, yeast- I've never had to do a substitution with them.

Just PART of their grain and extract area. The bins keep going to the right, then the fridges for hops and yeast. What you can't see is opposite this part is a wall of nothing by canned extracts of all brands and boxed kits....

Homebrew Day in the back

Our HBT tent

 

[runningweird]

unfortunately I only go to my Lhbs locations out of desperation. One is run by a nice enough guy that smokes in the store and really high prices( both are a big no no for me) and the other is run by an old couple that has little in selection and high prices. So instead i buy online - I wish I had a store I wanted to support

 

[bomberman]

My local store has a corner on the market, it's either shop there or online...That said, it's a nice little mom & pop shop, they have a decent stock of items and are very friendly and knowledgeable.

 

[unionrdr]

Dang revvy! That's one hell of a shop! I wish ours was that big with that kind of stock. Really nice place with space for such happenings,as we used to call them. Great pics of a great place...

 

[Revvy]

Dang revvy! That's one hell of a shop! I wish ours was that big with that kind of stock. Really nice place with space for such happenings,as we used to call them. Great pics of a great place...

It's an awesome place. It was iirc the first homebrewshop in Metro Detroit, it started in the back of a hardware store.

We've got a lot of shops in S.E. Michigan, and that place is like Mecca. I've always been impressed with the cleanliness of it. Over Labor day they closed they entire weekend, and I was forced to go to another shop that has a big online presence. They didn't have half the stuff Cap and Cork had, the staff was not as friendly, or quick to wait on you.I stood around for like 10 minutes looking lost before anyone bothered to see what I wanted. It was cluttered and dark, and seemed really really dirty, I felt like I needed to take a shower after.

 

[huge1s]

Verdict is still out on mine. It is actually a Home and Garden store with half the store dedicated to wine and beer making (mostly wine). You can tell the guy that runs the beer/wine side prefers wine but knows about beer brewing. First trip there, he was out of red wheat (seems like a pretty common grain to make sure you don't run out of) and was waiting on a yeast shipment. I think he just recently started the beer brewing part of the store so he isn't quite sure of the market yet (ie... doesn't order too much in advance). Nice guy, fun to talk to, not too high on the knowledge. I bought my ingredients from him for my next beer and am pretty sure I could have got it cheaper (including shipping) from one of the fine establishments mentioned all the time here. So I guess location is really the only thing that would keep me coming back. Originally I thought my only option was 40 minutes away and a guy at the liquor store told me about this place.... 10 minutes away. I would prefer to support a local business, but I don't think there is much value add over the online places in this case.

 

[samc]

Brewbrothers is one of many in the Portland metro area. Prices are usually the lowest and they started that trend and others have had to compete and lower prices. It's the only shop that knows my name when I walk in the door instead of calling me "hey man". That alone is worthy of my loyalty. I asked about Hop extract and the next time I showed up I got two syringes for free to sample. btw - don't lick your fingers after messing with that stuff, it is intense.

 

[Zamial]

My LHBS can be hit or miss. While the equipment + hops are priced pretty high compared to online retailers, I just can not beat the grain selection and prices they have. most specialty grains average about $1 a pound and they run specials all the time for .79 a pound. I just got a 50 pound sack of 6-row for $34!

 

[crazybluerider]

The 2 stores locally that I will return too both went above and beyond, IMO, to help out a new brewer with all my dumb questions. The place that I bought my starter kit went so far as to spend about 30-45 minutes walking me through my first brew, including how to make sure my bottles were clean and how to fill and cap them. The other one will often open after hours if they are still in the back brewing or something. This is really handy for me as I work a long shift and sometimes it is hard to get to stores during the week before they close. I have also have yet to escape this store without being "forced" to taste some of their brews.

 

[kyle6286]

The owner of mine keeps his beer on tap in the store and lets his customers sample about 5 oz. or so. He's also really friendly, mills the grain for free, and when i was getting ingredients together for a pumpkin ale he took my recipe and got everything for me. Also there's a really cool bar accross the street called the Pour House. All of this seems engineered to keep me going there.

Pour House in Hartford CT? Or is there one in NJ too?

 

[JonM]

I'm lucky to have a Northern Brewer in town. They're always fully stocked and, in
my experience, it is extremely rare that they're out of something, whether it's ingredients or parts/gadgets. If they ever do run out of a particular ingredient/thing they always have recommendations for a good sub. Good hours, friendly helpful staff, classes, good prices, good location, and so on.

 

[davefleck]

Stomp Them Grapes in Denver. Great stock, high volume keeps it fresh. Helpful staff. Reference library. Can't think of how to improve.

 

[Kahler]

The Whole Foods the Bowery-NYC- has the cheapest ingredients around (base malts$1.24 lb, specialty $1.69 lb), they are always in stock with grains/hops/yeast, will special order stuff for you if you call ahead and give them about 5 days, and the employees are fine- some know their stuff, some dont. Overall, good place to go, beer is resoanable, and they have rotating kegs for growlers.

 

[BigRob]

Desperation is the only reason I frequent my LHBS, the owners are nice enough and such, but the prices are out of this world expensive. Selection sucks, stock is all pretty old. I bought my tank there so I go back every couple months to do a swap, and the rare purchase of some grains if I am in desperate need. Just a highlight of what I call expensive:

Specialty Malts 1kg = $8.75 ($4/lb)
2-Row 1kg = $6.75 ($3.01/lb)
Safale S-04 = $6/pack
Hops 50g = $6.95 ($3.95/oz)
DME 1kg = $18 ($8.18/lb)

So I tend to frequent my not-so-local HBS, which is a 30-40 minute drive for me, has a massive selection of everything I need, and things I only dream of, and decent prices to boot. I still do a fair bit of online ordering, and participate in group buys for sacks of base malts.

 

[DrJerryrigger]

I keep going back because it's 2 miles away. Their prices are quite high, so I order most of my stuff online, but when I only need one little thing, or need something fast, I can just swing by.
The people who work there are nice and seem to be helpful (I haven't asked them much but they seem to be on the phone with a customer half of the time I'm in there). I hope they stay in business.

 

[duckmanco]

Mine is the Weekend Brewer here in central VA, the have everything, to include bulk lme stored on co2 for quick extract batches. They double crushed my first biab grain bill last week with no extra charge, AND Bob, the owner stocks an entirely separate but housed in the same building a kegging company. Now that I'm mainly AG, I go to Northern Brewer mainly for wyeast products as he doesn't carry their strains. Awesome shop, and the only one around.

 

[Toga]

Has everything I could imagine in stock at reasonable prices. They store all their yeast and hops properly. All the staff are experienced brewers, are friendly, knowledgeable and passionate about beer and brewing. The store is immaculately clean and bright. They have quite a lot of turnover so ingredients are fresh. They host two AHA big brew days with hundreds of folks participating.

They were the first and only homebrewshop in the Metro Detroit for years. They're an institution. They carry pretty much everything...I mean it, in terms of bulk grain, hops, yeast- I've never had to do a substitution with them.

Just PART of their grain and extract area. The bins keep going to the right, then the fridges for hops and yeast. What you can't see is opposite this part is a wall of nothing by canned extracts of all brands and boxed kits....

Homebrew Day in the back

Our HBT tent

Man Revvy they had an awesome turn out for the brew day in the picture. Too funny. I know the guys in the first pic starring at the keggle.....they are in my homebrew club

Hopefully one day the Malty Dog Brewery N supply store in Southfield will get there.

They keep me coming back. There is no other place close where I can walk in,hand a recipe to someone, and have a pint while they grind the grains for me :rockin:

 

[sapperxl]

Mine is B&S Brewers Guild, I get my grain and yeast from them. I have to contend with the heat so ordering yeast online is expensive during the summer paying for ice and express mail, cheaper to goto my LHBS. Their grains are priced ok and they mill them for me for a small fee. Everything is a little overpriced and the employees are hit or miss. They also don't carry any advanced stuff, just basic equipment for extract brewing. The coolest thing they do is have a brewing demo every Saturday for newbies plus they always have homebrew on tap in the store. I order most everything online except grains and yeast.

 

[CidCitrus]

Pour House in Hartford CT? Or is there one in NJ too?

It's in Westmont, NJ. I think it may be a small chain, my brother just told me there's one in Boston. Maybe it's like Firewaters where there are one or two in a couple of states.

 

[Mongrel]

One store I read about allows people to buy in at full sack prices for grain and then tracks your use so that you always have fresh grain and don't have to store a full sack at home.

One store refills PBW, One Step, etc for a discount.

Mine does both of these. Yeast and hops are stored properly. They have a fantastic collection of commercial beers (400+). 5% discount for members of the local brew club. They've also just moved to a bigger location, and have added a pub with a fantastic tap list.

 

[Spooner61]

Not only does the lady that owns the shop reminds me of my grandma and is supper nice and always willing to try and critique my beer and recipes but her shop is in the middle of a subdivision which is cool and it is a 5 minute drive from my house

 

[runningweird]

Not only does the lady that owns the shop reminds me of my grandma and is supper nice and always willing to try and critique my beer and recipes but her shop is in the middle of a subdivision which is cool and it is a 5 minute drive from my house

I bet its a front for a pot business.

 

[Spooner61]

Not in idaho

 

[runningweird]

Not in idaho

I didn't notice that, my mom lives in Sandpoint up north.

 

[unionrdr]

My LHBS is JW Dover in Westlake,OH,home of Black Box Brewing. I wish they'd let me have a sample of their wares while shopping. I spend enough there since they seem to be learning what I want is usually something new,or used in a new way. Better value for their wares,in my view. Plus it's a win for me.
Their prices are on par with what I'd pay to ship it in,or such a small dif in price that I may as well have it now. It's sorta like shopping at BJ's,or the other shopping club places. You have to be up on your pricing around town to know what's a good deal,& what isn't.
Just wish it was like cap-n-cork. Just wow,man...

 

[jrg42]

-convenient and near my work.
-will help or just let me find and mill the grain I am buying
-great selection of grains. rarely they don't carry or are out of something i need.
-always have stuff like keg orings, tubing, or other little things you don't need until you need them.
- Stuff is cheaper online for sure, but I needed a johnson controller that day and they had it in stock.
-the guys there all brew and can share their experience when you ask for it.