Homebrew Store in My House

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Sioux Brew

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I wanted to get your thoughts about starting a homebrew store from my house.

Some history on this. I live in a nice sized Midwest city where both of our metro homebrew stores have either closed or are in the process of closing in the next two months. I understand the reason for this as commercial brick and mortar are dying.

I’m a CPA in practice with extensive knowledge of business and am a partner in another Midwest manufacturing business. My thought would be to start an online ordering and pickup business in my city that includes around 20 common grain types, 10-20 hop varieties, and a decent selection of yeast as well as a small amount of basic homebrew items.

The goal would be to have customers see all the basic inventory online and fill out an purchase order to be fulfilled that night for them to pickup at a set time.

The goal of this would be to provide a quick turn time for brewers who want to brew, turn inventory quickly for fresh brewing ingredients and minimize overhead to maximize profits keeping the business alive.

What do you fellow brewers think of the idea and where am I missing the mark. Would this be something you’d support or is everyone moving to online ordering?
 
First and foremost i do wish you luck on your new venture.

But it's not for me. When I shop online I prefer to have it shipped for convenience. Going to a brick and mortar store near me gives me a feeling of instant gratification or fulfills an immediate need.

Unfortunately this business model doesn't actually give me either of those.

Not saying it is a bad idea but it's not for me personally.
 
First and foremost i do wish you luck on your new venture.

But it's not for me. When I shop online I prefer to have it shipped for convenience. Going to a brick and mortar store near me gives me a feeling of instant gratification or fulfills an immediate need.

Unfortunately this business model doesn't actually give me either of those.

Not saying it is a bad idea but it's not for me personally.

I like the input! I’m putting out feelers on this before making any hard line stance. Really this is general market research. It may just be online has taken over. I’m ok with that! I just know I typically impulse brew day and thought this could be an idea to get ingredients quickly to brew!
 
I'll take the other side: I'd be fine with this paradigm if the offerings were broad enough to cover the majority of my needs, the pick-up point was within say ~20 minutes of my home, and the hours were reasonable. (On the last point, if I have to wait until the purveyor gets home from his commute to The Big City, fahgetabouit ;))

Cheers!
 
Unfortunately I think home brew shops are closing because they aren't making any money. Your idea would be great for your brew club and maybe a few stragglers, but I think, even at home, the upkeep/maintenance/inventory would end up being more trouble than it would be worth. Just my 2 sents. :mug:
 
I asked my aunt about this very same thing. She owns a store in New Mexico. She told me that in order to get her supplies at a business owner price she had to have an actual place of Business and it couldnt be at a home . Maybe I didnt quite understand her .
 
I think you’re going to find you need to carry alot more inventory than you are planning. Grains are fairly easy to swap and substitute. What about dme/lme? salts and additives? Hops? 10~20 is meager selection given that its not uncommon to see 3-4 varieties in a single beer. And to get good pricing you gotta buy in bulk and repackage. Lots of labor there.

The name of this game is selection and pricing. You cant do either on such a small scale.
 
a guy did it here (Halifax)

He began as a mail order business with some walk ins until that grew and grew to the point where he had to get out and find a shop.

What he did right was having a massive inventory, you could get any brewing hardware that you could not get at any other place. Even though his house was out of the way for me I would drive because I knew I could get anything I wanted.

Eventually his hardware selection became so that commercial brewers frequented the shop and he got into building out small breweries and became the rep for a big malt company.

I’ve heard that it hasn’t been profitable and he puts all his earnings back into the business. I was very surprised because he seemed to be doing extremely well. I am not sure on this, just gossip probably.
 
I have been trying to find a way to monetize my love of homebrewing. I have no desire to turn pro, as the market is completely saturated. in addition, i am not smart enough to compete with the knowlege and skills that so many have.
But a home based shop is an interesting idea.
Good luck to you, sorry I don't really have anything constructive to add, but felt compelled to chime in and wish you luck! ha ha.
 
You won't have very great staffing costs. That's one advantage.

But in this day and age, people are looking for help as well. I don't need that from my local homebrew store, but many do. They'll come in for kits, and ask for advice.

You might consider a kind of combination model: during the week, you're open for pickups from, say, 4-7pm (or pick whatever times work for you). Those who order online will have their order waiting for them. And then, maybe open for an extended period of Friday (maybe) and then Saturday from 9-noon or something. That way those needing some advice can get it, and those who are brewing and discover they're missing yeast, or hops, or some sort of grain, still have a chance to get the emergency pickup.

One reason I like to support my LHBS is he's there in an emergency: more than once I thought I had all the ingredients I needed, only to find out that I didn't.

The Friday hours could be valuable for those brewing that weekend.

*****

My LHBS owner is the organizer of a homebrew club. You might consider that as well. Most of those who are in the club brew extract kits, and he does well with that.

It also may be a place for supporting new brewers. You'll have to consider part of your mission, IMO, as one of growing your market. Do classes on starting homebrewing. Offer beginner equipment packages, and kits.

*****

Know anything about wine? I think a lot of LHBS have that as well, as a way to broaden their markets.

*****

Ritebrew.com does a model similar to yours. They don't do walk-ins, but you can place an order by a certain time and pick it up later that day.

Just a few thoughts. I hope you're successful.
 
I asked my aunt about this very same thing. She owns a store in New Mexico. She told me that in order to get her supplies at a business owner price she had to have an actual place of Business and it couldnt be at a home . Maybe I didnt quite understand her .

^^^This will be one of your main problems. Suppliers will require photos of your exterior and interior “store” plus a copy of your business license along with a federal tax I.d. before they wil ship to you. Also, minimum order sizes (by weight) or you’ll be hit with high local LTL shipping fees. Last, but not least, you’ll need, at some point, a fire safety inspection, and depending on your local codes, food safety, etc.
Sorry for the downer.
 
LD, BSG, Brewcraft will all require you to have a commercial space. Without them, you wont have product. Your neighbors will also only play nice with the added car and tractor trailer. Traffic for a short time. Before you know, the town zoning officer will pay a visit and explain that you are not in a retail zone.
 
I was also thinking of the costs, zoning etc. Don't forget insurance, business licenses, credit card equipment and fees. etc.

How much extra room do you have at your place? I could see needing an empty garage as a minimum space.

Also pickup only limits your customer base to (I'm guessing..) a couple hundred people at most. How many homebrewers are there within an hours drive? And how many of them would actually place an order and pick up rather than ordering online to have shipped?

Your limited inventory has already been mentioned.
 
If you can get over these hurdles others mentioned, I’ve got an idea that I will preface with a question: How does a restaurant qualify to provide BiteSquad or UberEats food delivery services? What if someone locally could place an online order with you and pay an extra $3-5 to have it delivered by BiteSquad or similar food delivery service to their door relatively quickly? Just a thought for those who want the convenience of delivery at the speed of visiting a B&M location
 
I would suggest you stay within your skill set and what you are good at and are trained to do. There is no reason to sink money into a business venture that you really have no experience in and that has plenty of competitors that can order larger quantities of inventory and provide better pricing than you ever could. The "convenience factor" for customers in reality probably won't pay to keep the lights on.

With your "extensive knowledge of business" you probably would earn more providing tax, accounting or financial consulting services. At least you would not have the huge capital outlay in inventory. It seems every other day I read about a LHBS closing. If you decide to pursue this venture, at least you are young enough to start over if you end up losing your investment....
 
I wanted to get your thoughts about starting a homebrew store from my house.

Some history on this. I live in a nice sized Midwest city where both of our metro homebrew stores have either closed or are in the process of closing in the next two months. I understand the reason for this as commercial brick and mortar are dying.

I’m a CPA in practice with extensive knowledge of business and am a partner in another Midwest manufacturing business. My thought would be to start an online ordering and pickup business in my city that includes around 20 common grain types, 10-20 hop varieties, and a decent selection of yeast as well as a small amount of basic homebrew items.

The goal would be to have customers see all the basic inventory online and fill out an purchase order to be fulfilled that night for them to pickup at a set time.

The goal of this would be to provide a quick turn time for brewers who want to brew, turn inventory quickly for fresh brewing ingredients and minimize overhead to maximize profits keeping the business alive.

What do you fellow brewers think of the idea and where am I missing the mark. Would this be something you’d support or is everyone moving to online ordering?

SF, SD or SC, IA?

The first thing would be to get an idea of your costs. You probably already know this but a minimum of 13% added cost is needed to support a very active business. If you can get wholesale pricing info you will know if it will work.

I wish you luck.
 
in my experience, LHBS always fail quick...just not enough of us, in dense enough populations....we're just sparse, only way to reach enough, is through the internet.
 
in my experience, LHBS always fail quick...just not enough of us, in dense enough populations....we're just sparse, only way to reach enough, is through the internet.

I see talk of a fair number of closings, mostly in more populated areas with competition. In my time in Rhode Island there was one closure near me and 3 new openings. The one that closed was in a very lousy location. Here in Florida there are 2 nearby and one a little farther. I don't think any of these are in imminent danger of closing.
My experience....
 
Lots of good points listed already. Retail has become tough game, you have to give people a reason to purchase from you. For example great pricing, super service, unusual/unique product, speedy delivery/pick-up, expert knowledge, excellent location. Without a generous portion of these things you have to figure them out before you you buy any inventory.
 
Are you in it to make money? You may end up turning a profit, but divide that my the number of hours you have to put into it and you'll find that you're working for minimum wage.

Also, if you decide to turn your hobby into a job you may soon find yourself looking for another hobby.
 
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I see talk of a fair number of closings, mostly in more populated areas with competition. In my time in Rhode Island there was one closure near me and 3 new openings. The one that closed was in a very lousy location. Here in Florida there are 2 nearby and one a little farther. I don't think any of these are in imminent danger of closing.
My experience....

not talking about density of sheeple....their a dime a dozen, i was talking about density of freethinking-indepent drug users....you'd have to admit the dope-cook's and crack/heroin dealers have most of the kido's to scared to even think about making their own drugs...

(if only they knew all they had to do is buy some apple juice and add yeast, spare a lot of them from a lot of suffering. And maybe then LHBS's would be like the grocery store!)

edit: feel free to delete this, if it's too politcal.... lol :)
 
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