Brewmasters warehouse can't ship within Georgia?

[antsp1]

Protected territories suck, period. It allows lazy dealers to be the only stop for our product based only on the fact that they've always dealt the product.


+1000


Ant

 

[BugleBrew]

Okay, I'm convinced. I'll be ordering from Brewmaster's Warehouse exclusively. I grew up in GA, near Marietta, and hate to think that if I still lived there I couldn't shop where I wanted. You'll be getting my first of many orders soon, Ed. Keep it up. This is bull**** and your business is going to be stronger for going through it.

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

Vermont could always use another good LHBS!! Just saying, if you dont mind the cold....

Best of luck with this.

I am not a big fan of the cold after growing up in upstate NY, and moving to the south, I am not sure I could deal with the winters again.

 

[dontman]

My situation is not a work around, as I have all of the qualifications mentioned in the agreement, but my current location has caused many concerns about too much competition in too small of an area. I do not agree with this, but that is the way it is. I am actively seeking another location that puts me in a position to avoid these concerns.

I wish I had remembered about protective territory earlier in this thread. It would have made things a lot clearer. This topic about not selling in Georgia gets my blood boiling.

I notice warehouse in your name. My coffee roastery is zoned industrial and I do not do retail. I have been toying for years with opening a retail site as well but then it begs to be a cafe then restaurant, then I have to open at 5 AM and conform to FDA restaurant regs.

Now with the possibility of being a coffee AND beer brewing retail outlet this changes things. This is what I have been lining up.

The problem AND impetus is that I have a LHBS about 3 miles away. He is terrible and absolutely gouges on prices. He deserves to have someone new come in and spank the brat out of him for gouging but I am not sure the distributor will see things that way.

(By the way Ed, I went to Emory and lived on Ponce at Briarcliff while going to school.)

 

[tekhna]

Put yourself in the position of a store owner for a second. Many of the products that all home brew stores sell come from a single supplier. If that supplier thinks I will take steps to hurt their business then they can simply refuse to sell me anything. My inventory would quickly shrink to the point were I would lose sales due to a poor selection of products.

I would drop an anonymous note to Georgia' AG about monopolistic distribution behavior.

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

Okay, I'm convinced. I'll be ordering from Brewmaster's Warehouse exclusively. I grew up in GA, near Marietta, and hate to think that if I still lived there I couldn't shop where I wanted. You'll be getting my first of many orders soon, Ed. Keep it up. This is bull**** and your business is going to be stronger for going through it.

Thanks we appreciate all of the support that everyone at HBT has shown. We take good care of all of our customers.

Ed

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

I notice warehouse in your name. My coffee roastery is zoned industrial and I do not do retail. I have been toying for years with opening a retail site as well but then it begs to be a cafe then restaurant, then I have to open at 5 AM and conform to FDA restaurant regs.

Now with the possibility of being a coffee AND beer brewing retail outlet this changes things. This is what I have been lining up.

The problem AND impetus is that I have a LHBS about 3 miles away. He is terrible and absolutely gouges on prices. He deserves to have someone new come in and spank the brat out of him for gouging but I am not sure the distributor will see things that way.

(By the way Ed, I went to Emory and lived on Ponce at Briarcliff while going to school.)

Based on my experience, and what I went through, you may have a problem with the other LHBS being 3 miles away. The magic number thrown around when I was choosing a location was 25 miles, and that was from a winery with an on premise wine making. I do not even sell wine anything to give you an idea on how strict things can get.

 

[Edcculus]

I made it to page 5, then got tired of everyone trying to run your business!

By entering the agreement, you didn't burn any bridges. In the long run, when you able to open to the public without burning bridges, the better shop will prevail.

I went to school in Clemson, SC and am very fimilar with the Atlanta area. Even though I just moved to Ohio, my next order is going to be through you Ed. The only reason I didn't order in the past was that Thomas Creek Brewery was 20 minutes away. He sells his grain go homebrewers at a very good price.

 

[Jonnio]

Possible litigation is a big reason to keep details to myself.

Ed - I know your probably in a tough spot, but I do want to give you a little ray of sunshine on your litigation concerns (now, I am not a lawyer, but I have looked into these issues before when threatened with lawsuits)

If the things you say are 100% true and you accurately portray the situation then there is NO chance of the other party getting a successful lawsuit against you for libel, slander, or anything else...Them suing you might also make an anti-trust case against them hold more water. I would venture to say that if you went and found a good corporate attorney they would represent you for nothing because their fees and more would be covered in the massive countersuit that would be filed on the same day as any legal action they attempt to take against you.

Large companies use the threat of lawsuits against someone as a scare tactic to make you do what they want because they assume/know that you can't afford a court battle. Many times, when you laugh at them and say go ahead and sue me, they never will, knowing that it will cost them more in the long run since they really don't have a case.

Monster vs. Blue Jeans cable is a great example of this.

Having said that - if you need to work with them, lawsuits are not a good way to build a good relationship.

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

Thanks everyone for your support and encourangement. I know that in the end Brewmasters Warehouse will be everything that I envisioned it when I started. This has been a small set back in terms of when that happens, but I know that it is just a when, and not if it happens.

 

[nghtmre4u]

i will be placing orders with you as well getting a shoping list ready

 

[stevea1210]

When I started this thread yesterday there were 12 names on the petition. 24 hours later, and it is up to 36 names.

I don't know how many names it will take Ed, but hopefully the HBT community can help.

 

[Glubki]

I don't know what laws everyone keeps citing....

Distributors/manufacturers can play havoc on a business in this country. If you've ever worked at a car dealership or even a grocery store you would understand that a retailer is virtually powerless against a distributor if they don't play along with the big boys.

Price setting, collusion and mini-monopolies are part of the reason everything costs so much here. If you want things to change write your congressman because it starts with lobbyists and ends with who employs more people and pays more taxes.

 

[reim0027]

We must be lucky then, because our distributors compete with each other to offer us the best deals. We are constantly getting very good deals in terms of price, financing, or "buy one get one etc." We run a small business, but not a LHBS.

 

[Glubki]

We must be lucky then, because our distributors compete with each other to offer us the best deals. We are constantly getting very good deals in terms of price, financing, or "buy one get one etc." We run a small business, but not a LHBS.

I see you are in the great lakes region from your membership profile. You are lucky... the area you live in combined with local demand and sluggish economy will go a long ways in breaking price fixing etc..., some areas just aren't that fortunate.

 

[Jonnio]

I don't know what laws everyone keeps citing...Price setting, collusion and mini-monopolies are part of the reason everything costs so much here. If you want things to change write your congressman because it starts with lobbyists and ends with who employs more people and pays more taxes.

You can't control what they charge you, but you can sure as hell sell something for whatever you want. The only thing they can do is a MAP (minimum advertised price) meaning you can't take out a Sunday ad selling IPod Touches for $50. Other than that is covered by Dr. Miles Medical Co. v. John D. Park Sons Co. A 1911 case in which a mfg tried to dictate a minimum sale price. It was almost overturned in 07, but as of now is still on the books.

 

[Glubki]

Than they just refuse to sell to you or jack your prices up and if there are a limited number of distributors in your area you are S.O.L.

 

[Shooter]

I am not a big fan of the cold after growing up in upstate NY, and moving to the south, I am not sure I could deal with the winters again.

Well, I've never seen any snow, but I've been in the southern part of Georgia when the temperature has dipped down into the teens...like about three weeks ago!!!!!

 

[user 29674]

Well this is a bummer. I drive by every now and then to check and see if you're open for brick-and-mortar retail yet. Guess now I know why you're not. I hope its the distributor/wholesaler that's causing you so much grief and not "the other guy" because I've shopped there a few times (as recently as Friday) and talked to the owner who seems like a real nice guy. Hopefully, I'm not that bad of a judge of character.

Cheers mate, I hope everything works out in the end, and look forward to sending you some of my money here soon.

-Aubrey (Kennesaw/Acworth)

PS: If you need a new location, there's a nice brand-new retail strip-mall thing on Wade Green across from Home Depot offering 90 days free rent to new tenants... And its 1.5 miles from my house... ;-)

[ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=3906+cherokee+st+nw+kennesaw+ga&sll=34.04857,-84.597902&sspn=0.002587,0.004361&ie=UTF8&ll=34.048339,-84.598053&spn=0.005174,0.008723&t=h&z=17"]Google Maps[/ame] on the south side of Cherokee, between the small building (fire station) and the U-shaped retail thing, those trees are now the place I'm talking about (you can see it in streetview while it was under construction). The big patch of dirt is now a Home Deopt. Less than .5 mile from exit 273 on I-75 (and did I mention 1.5 miles from my house? )

 

[brown_dog_us]

Ed-

If you can not work this out behind closed doors, I hope you'll tell them that you intend to tell your customers the truth as to why you can not sell to them. I would not shop at a retailer that was involved in this and I believe most other home brewers would feel the same.

Good Luck

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

Ed-

If you can not work this out behind closed doors, I hope you'll tell them that you intend to tell your customers the truth as to why you can not sell to them. I would not shop at a retailer that was involved in this and I believe most other home brewers would feel the same.

Good Luck

If this is not settled beind closed doors, and I beleive that this will, then I will let everyone know the complete details of the story.

 

[PvtSkippy]

I too hope the situation is resolved quickly. What "The Man" doesn't realize is that while he is protecting the "other" LHBS, he's making it a severe PITA for folks who don't live within Metro Atlanta to get supplies. Yeah, I could order online elsewhere, but I'd rather support the local (relatively speaking) guys if possible. This leaves me with the option of ordering online from out of state or driving 66 miles to the LHBS.

Seems to me that if the person making the purchase doesn't have a 404, 770 or 678 area code you should be in the clear. The situation, as I see it now, is only serving to hurt you, the LHBS in question, and the sales rep for the distributor as I'll probably end up ordering from another online store outside of his sales territory.

>.<

 

[HenryHill]

Are there no other distributors that you can use?

In my area, LD Carlson is the go-to.

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

My condolences for the legal hassle, it's truly a shame that open competition gets hampered by a distributor. I understand this type of thing for automobile dealers, but grain and hops are such low price items it just doesn't make sense to grant exclusive rights to an entire STATE! At the very most, they should perhaps prevent sales to zip codes in the city of Atlanta but even that seems like overkill. From a distributor's point of view, I understand they want to keep their retail outlet owners happy...but that needs to be balanced with the need to move their product.

If you can move more product than another store isn't it better for the distributor to sell product through you? If it turns out that distributor doesn't want to play ball, are there any others that can deliver a comparable product?

 

[Ryan_PA]

I gave up on this debate at the top of page 4. Thanks for the great service Ed.

It is good to see, even at this point in internet history, that everyone online is an expert in all areas of law

I signed the petition as well.

 

[p4ck37p1mp]

Well this is a bummer. I drive by every now and then to check and see if you're open for brick-and-mortar retail yet. Guess now I know why you're not. I hope its the distributor/wholesaler that's causing you so much grief and not "the other guy" because I've shopped there a few times (as recently as Friday) and talked to the owner who seems like a real nice guy. Hopefully, I'm not that bad of a judge of character.

Cheers mate, I hope everything works out in the end, and look forward to sending you some of my money here soon.

-Aubrey (Kennesaw/Acworth)

PS: If you need a new location, there's a nice brand-new retail strip-mall thing on Wade Green across from Home Depot offering 90 days free rent to new tenants... And its 1.5 miles from my house... ;-)

Google Maps on the south side of Cherokee, between the small building (fire station) and the U-shaped retail thing, those trees are now the place I'm talking about (you can see it in streetview while it was under construction). The big patch of dirt is now a Home Deopt. Less than .5 mile from exit 273 on I-75 (and did I mention 1.5 miles from my house? )

+1 this is right by me too.

 

[IowaHarry]

Do you want to have a storefront? How much more business will you realize from that? Does the added headaches of sales tax, business hours, making change, paying employees to stand behind the counter when there is no one in the store make it worth while?

I understand the distributorship thing. You can't have a chevy dealership open up across the street form yours. That is why you get a territory. But if your sales exceed the competition the distributor might shine his beneficent light your way. Is your deal with the competition or with the distributor?

I'm not asking you to air your dirty laundry here, just food for thought. And in support you will be getting my order soon.

 

[BadCatBrewer]

I signed the petition.
I live in Georgia and am waiting anxiously to shop at Brewmasters.
Till then, my business will go to one of the out of state online vendors.

 

[avaserfi]

Signed just becasue this agreement sounds like it puts Brewmasters in a ridiculous spot. I also made an order a few days ago with BMW partially because of this and partially because I have heard the customer service is top notch.

 

[MikeG]

Well this is a bummer. I drive by every now and then to check and see if you're open for brick-and-mortar retail yet. Guess now I know why you're not. I hope its the distributor/wholesaler that's causing you so much grief and not "the other guy" because I've shopped there a few times (as recently as Friday) and talked to the owner who seems like a real nice guy. Hopefully, I'm not that bad of a judge of character.
...

Heh, after meeting Ed, and not knowing he was owner of Brewmasters Warehouse and an awkward moment discussing "the other guy" who may not be the same one you're thinking of, I have not been back.

The guy (no names) I'm thinking of is a nice guy to his customers and all of their employees have been very helpful to me in the past but I'm unimpressed with their behavior related to Ed and choose to take my business elsewhere.

I have two co-workers who both live in the Marietta area who were excited about BMW when I told them about it opening a few months ago as all the others are too far and ordered online anyway.