thatfatbastard
Well-Known Member
Awesome, thanks!
The whole building is about 1,500 sq ft, but we are only using the downstairs for retail. My guess is that our retail square footage is somewhere around 900. I would like for it to be bigger.
I'm using Shopify for our POS, and I'm not all that fond of it to be honest.
Nice shop! I have to stress a Few things.
Top of the list. Homebrew shops are a niche market. You have to keep the customers that find you.
1. Customer service!! This has to be at the top of the list. Many people are @zz wipes however they are your customers. Smile and sell `em yeast and grain They will keep coming back.
2. Customer Service! (yes again) Service and nurture the newbies. These are going to be your bread and butter customers. You just have to get them started. Give them the best advice possible and they will keep them coming in the door. I did not get this treatment at my local shop when I started. They lost my business for a very long time due to this.
3. Ensure you keep up your inventory. Nothing worse than going to a shop that is out of one or more of the ingredients you came to buy. Especially when it happens often. This is one of the reasons my favorite homebrew shop went out of business and I had to go back to my local store
4. Keep the place hospital clean. You have to be a cleaning nazi! We have a store in our area that is just plain dirty. Needless to say it really keeps people out of their store.
It looks really nice. Best of luck.
And sure I'll start the why not just sell better bottles instead of glass carboys discussion!
So, I'm very interested in this and I have gotten the name of someone from another small business owner, but I was wondering, how much does a CPA usually cost for a small business?
How much a CPA cost is hard to answer. If you have bookkeeping software, quickbooks is the most popular but definantly not the cheapest, and you use it correctly you will save your accountant a lot of time, and time is money. I don't know how you set up your business but most likely it's just a sch C as part of your personnel return so if you keep good books it should only be a few hundred dollars.
Like most answers your get from a CPA, it depends. And it's honestly something I've struggled with for some time with my own firm. It really depends on how much time the work requires, how much risk they are exposed to, and the complexity of the work. Many folks take the risk and complexity part for granted, but for every return, financial statement, or piece of advice an accountant produces, there is a malpractice risk factor involved that increases as the complexity increases.
For example, say you are a client and you shoot me an email that says you had to replace all of the locks in your building which totaled $500 and when you are putting it into Quickbooks, you don't know whether it should be a Repair & Maintenance expense or considered part of the Building (i.e. capitalized as an asset). Although this sounds like a fairly simple inquiry, a good CPA would recall from his/her continuing education class that the IRS issued new regulations targeting this issue effective 01/01/2014. Just like medicine and law, accountancy is a practice: so like a lawyer may research case law or statute, a CPA researches the IRS publication drawing on his/her past experience and knowledge (Add Complexity). Then let's say the IRS decides to audit and the CPA got it wrong (we're all human). The CPA runs the risk of a law suit, IRS sanctions (Circular 230), and increased premiums for malpractice insurance.
Having said that, it's impossible for the small business CPA to charge on a per question basis. So the approach that I have found to work the best for me and my clients is to charge based on how many forms I prepare and present and allow a reasonable amount of questions on the house. Because chances are if you have a question about your repair and maintenance, there is a good chance that I'm going to prepare a form for you on it. If not, then it's simply chalked up to the cost of doing business.
Rokfreek hit a good point too. Having your bookkeeping already done is a huge time/money saver, especially if you are keeping an inventory. Having a CPA do your book keeping is the equivalent of having a brain surgeon take your vitals. However, if you were my client, I would get you off of a Schedule C as soon as possible, and into an LLC taxed as an S-Corporation while paying yourself a reasonable salary to avoid the 15.3% self-employment tax trap. If you own the land and building you probably want to put that into a separate entity for liability purposes. When looking for a CPA, they will likely go over a preliminary game plan in the initial consultation. An S-Corp structure would be one of the minimum advisories I would look for. Most important, if he offers you a homebrew, make sure it's after you've discussed business!
I appreciate everybody's comments here over the past week or so. I've had a great time meeting some of the HBT members face to face, as well.
I just wanted to share with y'all a couple of quick updates.
1. I had a great talk today with a representative of the AHA and we will be selling memberships and Zymurgy in the store real soon. There may even be some events hosted here at the store in the future.
2. Our local Visitors Bureau contacted me today and we are going to be listed on their website. They already have a program called Virginia's Blue Ridge Beerway that's pretty awesome.
3. I can't say much about this right now, but hopefully soon we will have some exciting announcements about some partnerships with local breweries.
In the original post. I read it was in Roanoke (I'm getting excited now) Then I read Virginia and get sad all over again b/c there is not a LHBS in Roanoke, TX.
But the pictures are awesome, and I pray the best for your new venture I love that "rustic" feel without the "run down" atmosphere.
congrats! Here's a link to a thread I started yesterday that you might find useful, good luck in your first year!
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=523233
Cuz there ain't no Better Bottles right now. I am selling PET carboys though, and I actually recommend them to my customers over glass.
Better Bottle production has been shut down for a while now, I'm not sure when they are going to get pack in to the distribution stream.
Long time since we've heard about the shop... I hope all is well.
does your area have a homebrew club? Why not start a club if it doesn't and have the meetings (at least some of them) at your store. This would definitely help get the word out about your shop. If there is already a big club in the area contact the club about having a meeting at the shop, perhaps throwing in some freebies for them if incentive is needed.
Nice looking shop good luck!
I'm curious how it's going after so long without a post. How is business?
Good to hear business is at least not a drain in year one. That is a feat in itself. Wow, over 100 grain choices? How often does that inventory turn? It sounds like you will have sufficient support to build to an actual profit sometime - hopefully soon.
As a fellow IT guy (actually seeking employment) I wish you well. I hope Southern Hills Homebrew Supply becomes "world famous" in Roanoke :0)
i hope business continues to do well! You'll need to start turning a profit sooner or later...
Now you sound like my wife
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