Homebrew Store Inquiry

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Draygon

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Mar 12, 2012
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Location
Greeley, CO
Recently I have got back into brewing at home after taking several years off. I am finding it by far more enjoyable than it was for me when I did it in the past. I have been thinking more and more about taking my hobby a step further and actually opening a home brew store here close to where I live. The closest store to me is roughly 35-45 min away, and I know that there is a good deal of home brewers in the town that I live in.

I know there is a need for it, the question I am running into is how much it would take to open one here. I also figure if I am going to go this route and open one that I may as well go a bit further and make it a BOP (Brew on Premise) type of place too where brewers that enjoy the hobby but dont actually have all the equipment needed can come in and make their beer. The store would take care of the cleanup and the brewer would even be able to keep his/her beer there to ferment and at a later time come in and bottle.

So this is just a general inquiry thread to throw out there to see what everyone thinks it would take to start up this type of place. I have done some research online and know that in order to "make it" the store would have to gross ~$100k a year to be profitable, I also am not anywhere close to another store so I wouldnt have a problem with whole sellers getting the products needed. As I said its just that question of "how much" is needed.

So anyone that has attempted this, has any ideas on this, or has one open and has some insight feel free to post here. I appreciate any and all responses.
 
Don't know where you live but if the demand is there, go for it! As for the need to gross 100,000 it's up to you how big or small you want to be. There is no rule in business what you have to gross to be profitable. You need to consider your operating expenses/overhead and profit margins accordingly.

In other words, if you want to make a living and net say $65,000 per year you need to figure out how much business you have to do gross minus expenses to do that. Do some research and talk with some store owners and see if they can provide you some guidance. Call suppliers and get a sense of wholesale prices on items, etc. Get in touch with real estate people and find out costs of a building or shop for lease and finally discuss with your baker/lender if you qualify for the loan which you will probably need.

As for brew on premise I know in Illinois there are licenses required and fees to pay so that might have some effect on offering that type of service as well.

Have a plan and do your research, after all, once you open doors and carry inventory you are financially hooked and obligated to fulfill your obligations.

Best of luck!
 
Thx for the post, I am not sure about Colorados BOP laws, I will certainly be looking into them, as far as I know there is only one other place in CO that you can do this in, and that place is far north of where I would be opening this up at.

As I said I have been doing research, but some things I just cant place, so thats why I was asking here :)
 
You may also want to use the American homebrewer's association as a resource as well. You need to be a member to use their professional services but they are a great resource as well!
 
You need to do a business plan.

I live in Monument and there is a homebrew place here... which would be less than 45 minutes away (depending on where you live in Rastle Cock). Frankly... the one in Monument isn't very good and they mostly are focusing on wine (and are actually opening a winery). If you do your business plan and decide that it is worth it to open the business, I would roll up your way. Oh... there is a place in the Springs where you can brew on premise. Other one I know of (if it is still there) is Boulder.
 
Make sure demand is sky high. There are a lot of brewers in my city but that doesn't mean they all are constant brewers. They brew once a year or twice most of all. I opened a friends home brew section to his craft beer store. I know for a fact it wouldn't survive if it was solely homebrew equipment. Start getting price estimates for all the things you would stock. Try LD Carlson, Brewcraft and brew master. LD carlson is a lot harder to get a hold of. But the others will grant you a previsionary password so you can check out the prices.

best of luck!
 
Hug1s, I would be able to accommodate everyone. I am working on a business plan, which is another reason for this post. I am not sure where I would open it up, either in Castle Rock near I25 and all the new development or somewhere in Park Meadows. Both locations would be closer to anything I/we have now.

Id say that a majority of my customer base would be "newbie" or BIAB/Extract brewers, the minority would be all grain. Thats just from the research I have done online already. Then of course have the equipment and such for wine making.

Thanks for the reply as well GodsStepBrother I will make sure to do that.
 
Best guess based on this and other research ive done Id say I need about $15k to open one, maybe a bit more depending on the licenses I may need for the BOP part.

Thanks for the posts all.
 
Don't forget the internet!

I am not too familiar with the geography of your state but as a consumer, if I cannot drive to you conveniently I would be apt to buy from you if you were readily accessible on the net with "low" shipping costs! (let UPS/USPS do the leg work)

Just my humble .02 cents!

Good luck
 
Best guess based on this and other research ive done Id say I need about $15k to open one, maybe a bit more depending on the licenses I may need for the BOP part.

$15k would barely cover one year of rent. Unless I'm missing something.
 
I am not taking into consideration every months rent has a hole in the initial startup cost. Obviously in order to make a profit you would want more but I am right now only looking for the startup costs hoping to pay everything out of the store profits. You are right though in that I probably should look at including is this all start up at least 6 months rent.

As far as online sales goes of course I will have a website, I have a background as a php developer, and have many friends in the industry that will be going out of it going
 
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