whatever happened to the homebrew shop?

[spearko520]

I started brewing during the second beer wave of the early nineties, and back then my local homebrew shop was open a couple days a week. Saturdays were pretty much the day everyone would hit it, and we all had our glasses in the back w the water heater cranked full tilt for a quick rinse. It was like a day at the bar. I moved in 2002 and found a new shop, same thing on thursday nights- everyone hanging out, buying what they needed for the week and bringing in the goods- splitting cases up from the distributor- a great way to hang out and spread the knowledge. A few years later, the scene started drying up and it seemed like everyone was moving to buy stuff online. It was harder and harder to get ingredients from my shop around the corner. Today my LBHS is great - well lit, open 6 days a week with convenient hours, and prices and selections competitive with any online source. So it's hard to complain- especially since the cost and availability of equipment has improved markedly over the years, largely due to this type of successful business model. There's always a sample to try, but the constant flow of customers just doesn't accommodate the ambiance that was once there. SO - i kind of miss the old days at the little shops, barely in business, your loyalty rewarded with a sip of a treasured westie 12... Does anyone have a homebrew shop that they love to hang out in???

 

[rico567]

Local homebrew shops have prospered, I believe (not having any local examples to go by, only through observation), on the homebrewing / craft beer boom since you first started patronizing your local store. As with any boom, the market is going to invite larger players, and your local store must grow and become more like them (operate on slimmer margins and with less staff) to survive.

This is merely another example of what has been happening throughout retail during my lifetime. I am in my seventh decade, and when I was a kid, I remember getting groceries at the little mom and pop store a block up the street. But even then, my mother did the vast majority of her shopping (family of ten) at the A&P. Sic transit the small grocery.

I have an acquaintance who owned two True Value hardware stores in our area for thirty years. Two years ago, he was forced to close one of them, due to a big box store going up across the street, and his other store is ailing. He acts to some degree as though this were a mysterious and process and symptomatic of the decline and fall of society, and yet he's about my age, and has lived to watch this happening elsewhere. I suppose it's different when one's own ox is being gored.

What we have locally that passes for an LHBS is the corner of a giant chain liquor store. The wine & beer supplies are -sort of- organized, but a lot of it isn't properly shelved or displayed, and indicates a haphazard attitude toward the homebrew supplies, as if it is just an afterthought put in as an added draw to attract someone who may then also buy some booze. And there's no way at all to tell how long some malt has been sitting around.

No good- so unless I'm in an emergency situation, I shop Midwest or Northern Brewer. I can wish that we had an LHBS, say like Hop To It! in Boulder, CO, because I'd be there in a heartbeat....... but I don't see any signs of that happening. And that is that.

 

[outside92129]

Rico567's right, it's happening in every business- retail, medical, food, etc. The long term value of personal connections is hard to quantify, especially when walmart is across the street selling cheaper. The immediate impact of lower costs (for junk we probably don't need) almost always wins. It's only after we lose the sense of community do we miss what we lost. Then all we can do is complain about the poor service and lack of personal touch at the big box. The big box is cheaper and faster, but does anyone *like* shopping there? Like what Spearko520 was getting at, there's more to shopping than the actual financial transaction.

I grew up with a family doctor, he gave me my shots when i was little, put me in multiple casts, pronounced my father dead, gave me my college vaccines, and called us when he retired. Now i have a HMO and who knows who i'll see when i go in, but i know he/she will not know a thing about me. *sigh*

 

[spearko520]

Well - i can dig all that- and i get that progress is progress- i'm just saying i miss being able to go to the shop and get drunk and hang out. I know clubs can fill the void of lack of companions versed in the merits of drink- but i always liked the kind of random quality that the shops had. Wow - i can't believe i am old enough to ***** about the good old days. Maybe i can talk them into adding an exchange pub/ lounge.

 

[spearko520]

I grew up with a family doctor, he gave me my shots when i was little, put me in multiple casts, pronounced my father dead, gave me my college vaccines, and called us when he retired. Now i have a HMO and who knows who i'll see when i go in, but i know he/she will not know a thing about me. *sigh*

bet they know where to send the bill and what your insurance will cover

 

[JeepDiver]

being able to go to the shop and get drunk and hang out. .

Part of it is the legal issues with this these days. Not worth it from a liablity standpoint. First time someone gets in a wreck, they sue the shop. Just doesn't make it worth it for the store owner to allow it.

 

[borbosha]

Local homebrew shops have prospered, I believe (not having any local examples to go by, only through observation), on the homebrewing / craft beer boom since you first started patronizing your local store. As with any boom, the market is going to invite larger players, and your local store must grow and become more like them (operate on slimmer margins and with less staff) to survive.

This is merely another example of what has been happening throughout retail during my lifetime. I am in my seventh decade, and when I was a kid, I remember getting groceries at the little mom and pop store a block up the street. But even then, my mother did the vast majority of her shopping (family of ten) at the A&P. Sic transit the small grocery.

I have an acquaintance who owned two True Value hardware stores in our area for thirty years. Two years ago, he was forced to close one of them, due to a big box store going up across the street, and his other store is ailing. He acts to some degree as though this were a mysterious and process and symptomatic of the decline and fall of society, and yet he's about my age, and has lived to watch this happening elsewhere. I suppose it's different when one's own ox is being gored.

What we have locally that passes for an LHBS is the corner of a giant chain liquor store. The wine & beer supplies are -sort of- organized, but a lot of it isn't properly shelved or displayed, and indicates a haphazard attitude toward the homebrew supplies, as if it is just an afterthought put in as an added draw to attract someone who may then also buy some booze. And there's no way at all to tell how long some malt has been sitting around.

No good- so unless I'm in an emergency situation, I shop Midwest or Northern Brewer. I can wish that we had an LHBS, say like Hop To It! in Boulder, CO, because I'd be there in a heartbeat....... but I don't see any signs of that happening. And that is that.

Where are you located? If you are in the Denver area then you can hit up Stomp Them Grapes off I-70 and Pecos. They are the Denver location for Hop To It! They are amazing there and have a great selection of fresh ingredients.

 

[FishNChips]

Where are you located? If you are in the Denver area then you can hit up Stomp Them Grapes off I-70 and Pecos. They are the Denver location for Hop To It! They are amazing there and have a great selection of fresh ingredients.

In the Denver area I would HIGHLY recommend The Brew Hut. It is in Englewood (E Hampden and Parker), and has an attached micro brewery called Dry Dock. I went there for the first time the other day, and for one, their beers are delicious and you can carry them with you into the HBS, for two, their grain selection is better then you get at Stomp Them Grapes and Hop to It. And three...they have free popcorn!

 

[spearko520]

Part of it is the legal issues with this these days. Not worth it from a liablity standpoint. First time someone gets in a wreck, they sue the shop. Just doesn't make it worth it for the store owner to allow it.

i would never the sue the place that sells me grain. couldn't they just make an exception for me?
lousy lawyers.

 

[squeekybobo]

I'm lucky in that Midwest is my LHBS, with Northern Brewer being a few miles further. I find MW's prices I be a bit better anyway. Not trying to brag or anything...

 

[rico567]

Where are you located? If you are in the Denver area then you can hit up Stomp Them Grapes off I-70 and Pecos. They are the Denver location for Hop To It! They are amazing there and have a great selection of fresh ingredients.

No- I live in Central Illinois. I have been to the Front Range area of Colorado a number of times, more since our daughter went to CU and now lives in the area. It's kind of a mecca for beer and homebrewing, but like most places.....not enough to make me move there. If I were going to move at my age, it would probably be somewhere else in the Midwest.....but I haven't found any reason to do that yet.