Another LHBS Closing. Third one this year in the Puget sound

[stylus1274]

Sorry, ignore

 

[stylus1274]

I can't imagine how LHBS' make any money. There is a psychological benefit in owning a store. You are considered knowledgeable and important in the community. As with any store serving a hobby I am skeptical as to whether they are actually making money or if they are enjoying a labor of love. It is these endless wallets held by hobbyist store owners that would make owning a business focused LHBS very difficult. /QUOTE]

Couldn't disagree more.

Basically what you are saying is rich home brewers own shops and they only survive because they dump their own cash flow into it.

Difficult? Sure. But so is any business you open. You just have to attack it right. There are plenty of LHBS's that are successful.

Open a half-ass shop with no intention on getting a piece of internet sales you will surely fail.

Open a nice shop plentiful in supplies in an area of need for one that also caters to online sales as well as hit other needs besides just selling supplies and you can be successful.

Is it harder now? You bet. But that doesn't make it impossible.

 

[redllama]

I try to support my LHBS when I can. The two that are closest to me are both in growler/bottle shops. One is ridiculously overpriced (most grain is $2/lb) where as the other has what I would consider "industry standard" prices for a LHBS.

However I do the majority of my grain shopping online. Why pay $1.50/lb for base grain when I can get it in 10# bags from Morebeer for $1.06/lb with free shipping? For the recipes that I brew most often I buy hops by the pound from various online shops and have cut my hop cost in half. I will say that I prefer to get my yeast locally, especially in the summer, knowing that it will be handled correctly.

I'm not saying that there isn't a place for LHBS in the market, but in a way it is similar to a local sporting goods store competing with Dick's. There will be some specialty items and convenience factor to getting it from your local guy at times, but for the majority of things the local guy can't compete with the big time national player.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Do you go to Brew Camp now? I've had the same experiences that you describe. The one south, BevArt is a pretty good store, small, but they've got everything and good folks who own/work there, too. But its on Western around 101st Street, so its not close to local for me in Pilsen.

Following up like any good HBT member would, just found out that Brew Camp has apparently closed without any notice. Apparently the last couple weeks they've been exceptionally short on supplies (more than normal), so I guess it makes sense.

https://brewcamp.com/ will give you a 503 message. The owner was a web developer, so it's not like that site went down without intention.

 

[Pappers_]

Following up like any good HBT member would, just found out that Brew Camp has apparently closed without any notice. Apparently the last couple weeks they've been exceptionally short on supplies (more than normal), so I guess it makes sense.

https://brewcamp.com/ will give you a 503 message. The owner was a web developer, so it's not like that site went down without intention.

Someone at CHAOS told me that, too. Yesterday, I got an order from Farmhouse Brewing Supply (that I had made the day before) and also put in an order for two bags of malt via a group buy at CHAOS.