just an idea

[BrewerinBR]

But I don't get the mind-set that thinks big is always bad, and the F the man thing. Even big-bad Wa*mart started as ONE store, and grew because they were more efficient and better run than the other stores they competed with. This was true even before they bought anything from China. I remember going to Colorado in the late 80's (before WalMart was on the east coast) and went to a store...when I cam back home I knew that Sears and JC Pennys and KMART and a bunch of other chains like Caldor and Montgomery Wards that no longer exist were in for a tough time against them). And like you said, if you don't like them, don't buy there. (I myself only go there once in a while as I can't stand the lines.)

I have to disagree with your Walmart assessment. Walmart got big because of the distribution chain they developed, not being better run or smarter. Now Walmart dictates to manufacturers, what they will make and when and how much they will pay for it. Walmart uses unfair labor practices and and unfair pricing practices in a total effort to stomp the local stores out of business. They buy on huge scale and ship where ever they want... they do not ever deal locally and that sucks. We need fewer Walmart's and more local stores. I never go to a Walmart just on the basis of the unfair way they treat employees.. this is the largest most profitable corporation on the planet and they don't offer fair wages or worthwhile benefits. They got big on the backs of the workers they exploit. Walmart needs to be boycotted!

Rant Over

EDIT: My LHBS is Great and the owner and employees are good people and are helpful.

 

[LandoLincoln]

your missing the point. If you could get it at sams it would be alot cheaper, like $36.00 and no high shipping costs.

Here's how to get 2-row for 50 cents a pound.

1) Join local homebrew club
2) Local homebrew club sets up a group buy deal with a local microbrewery.
3) The more grains that the local microbrewery buys, the cheaper their grain cost is from the distributor, so both the microbrewery and the homebrew club wins.

 

[copyright1997]

Big is not always bad, but big also comes with unintended consequences.

We are here to craft beer, not to make cheap beer. If cheap is your goal, go buy BMC and save lots of time money and hassle. Handmade artisanal beer is an art and a science that emphasizes quality and creativity. Large chain retailers aren't there for quality, they are there to drive down prices and command market share. That sounds like the natural bedfellow of mass market beer to me, not obsessive zymergysts in their garages making beers half the world wouldn't drink because it's too dark or weird or not promoted by a pet wearing an aloha shirt and his bevy of large breasted, bikini-clad sudswhores.

Not everyone in this hobby is here to make masterpieces, but the vast majority of us are here because we see and taste a difference between cream of three crops and PBR.

If big box and mega retail start driving the profitability out of beer ingredients and thereby destroy LHBSs we nerds in sheds loose. Most home brew shops are started by people like you and me that love the hobby and want to share that love.

Wally world will not ever carry smoked malt or liquid yeast or have people on staff that know anything about what they sell who love what they do. But they could destroy the hard working enthusiasts' business if we allow them to dazzle us with the smoke and mirrors of low prices. It wouldn't take much to kill those LHBSs off.

So be as cavalier as you want about how your local sucks, but remember that you could be helping kill off MY awesome LHBS, and you are making sure that the terrific guy or gal that might want to start up a new store near you that will rock never gets that chance.

I suggest you re-read what I posted and also to NOT assume my priorities and intensions. Nowhere did I say my LHBS sucked. In fact, I stated the opposite and also stated I try to give them business. Just doing a quick check of some of my credit card receipts showed that I've spent well over $500 there since July.

Also, there is nothing that says that good quality home brew cannot also be cost effective. (I used that phrase on purpose as "cheap" has quality perceptions.) By participating in group buys, leveraging deals on hops (both online and my lhbs), and re-using yeast for a couple of generations I have my average cost on a 5 gallon batch WELL south of $15. This is important to me not because I'm trying to brew cheaper than buying Bud, but rather because a) I can brew beer that tastes as good or better than what I can buy for $9/six pack and b) so I can brew MORE, improve my process, and give it to friends.

I'm not saying to buy big, and I do understand your point regarding the fact that if the result is "driving the profitability out of beer ingredients" for the LHBS that they will be hurt. But the reality is that the world has changed. Just look at the knowledge on this site...having this kind of resource would have been unimaginable 30 years ago. The result is that if the LHBS doesn't provide superior service they will eventually be doomed.

All of this discussion is pretty moot however, as I seriously doubt whether Sam's or Costco will start carrying 2ROW. (The part of the discussion that is relevant is on-line vs. local.)

Sorry for the long response...the economics major in me is coming out.

 

[copyright1997]

I have to disagree with your Walmart assessment. Walmart got big because of the distribution chain they developed, not being better run or smarter.... Walmart needs to be boycotted!

Distribution is part of being "better run". My first phrase is the more appropriate one, namely "more efficient". There is a reason that Walmart went from one store in 1950 to where they are today, and it isn't just because they exploited the little man. What happened to Caldors, Montgomery Wards, and hundreds of others.

You have every right to boycott WalMart or anyone else. The last I knew, no-one, including you, was being forced to go to WalMart with a gun to their head. Vote with your wallet, but remember I get to do my wallet vote with my money. (I happen to volunteer at and buy a lot of my food at my local member-owned food co-op.)

Signed,
A conservative organic food loving, back to basics but electronics loving libertarian.

 

[dcHokie]

I have to disagree with your Walmart assessment. Walmart got big because of the distribution chain they developed, not being better run or smarter. Now Walmart dictates to manufacturers, what they will make and when and how much they will pay for it. Walmart uses unfair labor practices and and unfair pricing practices in a total effort to stomp the local stores out of business. They buy on huge scale and ship where ever they want... they do not ever deal locally and that sucks. We need fewer Walmart's and more local stores. I never go to a Walmart just on the basis of the unfair way they treat employees.. this is the largest most profitable corporation on the planet and they don't offer fair wages or worthwhile benefits. They got big on the backs of the workers they exploit. Walmart needs to be boycotted!

Rant Over

EDIT: My LHBS is Great and the owner and employees are good people and are helpful.

Here here!

Without reiterating everything said here already, Walmart may have started from a single store but NOW they put their thumb on the scale. From the tax breaks forced on local municipalities to their drain on that community's infrastructure (roads, water, power), they take more than they give. It's also pretty easy (and underhanded) to advertise guaranteed price matching when you are also forcing manufacturers to make a unique product ID for Walmart distro only. They work on high volume and low margins...cheap prices are the outcome, quality is not. Seems to me like shopping at Walmart for ingedients is the antithesis of homebrewing and homebrewers.

OK, another rant on the pile here, but I for one, cringed a little thinking about a Wal-Mart branded sack of grain.