A great craft beer store is closing

This is definitely sad. The only store in the Twin Cities that sells only craft beer. And it's closing.

Though it was a ways from my house, I always liked to stop in when heading to nearby Midwest Supplies.

 

My LHBS is closing... Even though the craft beer scene is growing here in Louisville Ky. I think that the whole craft beer industry exploded a little too fast, and now it might be plateauing and maybe shrinking back to a sustainable size??

 

That sucks... sorry to hear

 

Sad, I was planning to move into the brewery business for a retirement adventure. I even have a few $ invested. But I fear it's too late to be starting up here in So Cal. As mentioned, it's moving to a sustainable level. Maybe I should cut my losses.

 

Got that email today too, too bad, It was always great seeing Alvey and Bryan at events.

 

We're definitely headed for a correction in some markets when it comes to breweries, thinking specifically here in San Diego. Most of the new breweries to come online since 2013 are simply riding the wave. There is nothing that makes them stand out from the pack, minus a few exceptions (Saint Archer, Modern Times).

 

I think a lot of the other local stores upped their game. Don't need to go all the way out to Four Firkins if your local place has good selection too. Eg France 44, South Lyndale, Elevated, Ale Jail, etc.

Other places seem to be doing OK, so maybe they just couldn't make it as a beer-only place?

Anyway, still sad, more variety is better.

 

That's certainly a big factor, as it's hard to find a liquor store that doesn't at least stock the basics of craft beer. And stores like you mentioned cover craft beer quite well. Which left FF's uniqueness to the hard-to-find bottles, and that is very much a niche. Add that to MN's perennial refusal to allow Sunday sales, Total Wine moving in, and the construction on Hwy 100, and it's the perfect storm for FF's demise.

 

We have the same issue in michigan cant throw a rock and not hit a craft brewer it seems like. Odd part is they close and a new one opens. Either have to be making top notch beer or have a captive audience if there planning long term, ie only brewer around. Although there are a lot making a go of it by just being there towns brewer. Small shops help. Hate to see any go though.

 

I doubt it had much to do with Sunday sales laws - those laws have been in place for years and places like Surdyks, Haskells and Blue Max do just fine. Probably more to do with their high prices and the expansion of craft beer selection at mom & pop liquor stores. You don't need to go far these days to find decent expanding craft beer selections at decent prices. FF's additional services and staff knowledge are hard to find though, and will be missed.

 

I have a feeling there is going to be a big die off of breweries in the near future.

In Michigan new places seem to open weekly and you are beginning to see some of the sub-par places as ghost towns on a Saturday night.

 

And then theres colorado, Denver has an insane amount of breweries. Hard to say when our correction will come, i actually think with the pot laws, and for how many people are moving here, there actually might be room to grow the beer business.

 

Craft beer is still only 11% of the beer market – that's a ton of room for growth, especially as the lifelong BMC drinkers die out, and kids who've literally never lived in a world without Sierra Nevada and Deschutes and Sam Adams age into the market. And, there's no reason to believe a vibrant ecosystem of small producers can't thrive – look at wine, where the biggest player "only" has 22.8% of market share (depressingly, they are also experts at passing off a little packaging jiggerpokery as a small, independent brand, so, don't expect that trend to go away in our market any time soon).

That isn't to say you won't have to make excellent beer just to keep the lights on and the taps flowing at your pub, and truly exceptional beer to grow beyond that level, but, hey, more excellent-to-exceptional beer doesn't sound like such a bad fate to me...

 

I lost a lot of sympathy for him once he blamed Sunday sales.

 

We just had our LHBS close in Traverse City, MI (Bad Teacher), but somebody else bought their inventory and they re-openend in a new, smaller site with less overhead and only weekend hours. Will have to wait and see if this works out.

 

Really wish I could've done that here in Louisville when ours shut down. Maybe I could crowd fund for it... Lol

 

Specialty shops of all types struggle when things become more mainstream. Here all the grocery stores have huge selections. There's still a couple bottle shops that do really well and have absolutely fantastic selections... but they both serve beer as well. I bet they'd be dead if not for that. Hard to drive farther when Kroger or Whole Foods has an entire wall of great beer.

 

It's Total Wine that put them under. We can get great deals there but choose to shop at Northgate since we know the old and new owners. I'll spend a bit more to support them and the local Brew and Grow.