LHBS bad attitude!

[SilverKing]

For the first ten years I brewed I bought all my supplies form Hearts. I thought it was a great place. Good selection, open late, lots of imported beer to sample. It I called ahead they would smack a pack of yeast if needed ahead of my pickup. There were about 3 owners. Two were great guys. The third I never bothered with. I would still be buying form them except they are 1000 miles away in a foreign country.

Paul

glad to hear it's not all bad news at Hearts.

 

[duskb]

I don't have suggestions for online stores- if you are in the LA area
Steinfillers in Long Beach is a great shop IMHO (my local). The home beer/wine/cheese making shop In Woodland Hills also was a great resource (I have not been up to that shop in years though).

I'll try out some of these other stores and see what I can come up with. Long Beach is a drive for me but if I actually get some service it'll pay for itself in the long run.

Browsing the net yesterday I found a few online stores as well that seem to have more "commercial clone" recipies than my LHBS has. I even found one that had a clone of my favorite Stone brew. That alone is worth going out of State.

Thanks again for all the responses.

 

[peterfuse]

wow what a tool. he must have been new to it and was just there to ring items through the till. if he knew anything about all grain brewing it wouldn't have killed him to suggest some grains. he doesn't deserve your custom.

 

[Hokie]

The one I go to in Northern VA, when I attend college, is much more polite and made a point of making sure I use their store for my needs.

I'm assuming you're talking about the same LHBS I go to (the only one in NOVA). The owner is helpful, but pretty damned opinionated. If he doesn't like an idea you have, he's pretty honest about it. He also doesn't carry items he personally doesn't use such as ph buffer. He also wouldn't carry rice hulls if so many people didn't ask for them. He thinks they are a waste of time. Kinda weird...oh well.
I just wish he'd get a store bigger than a walk-in closet. When there are as few as 3 people, you have to climb over each other to get stuff.

 

[Sherpa FE]

I just want to say, that I went back into Hearts homerew today, and I had a GREAT time talking to the owner, he was friendly, helpful, and a pleasure to be around.
I told him about the bad rap that they get, and he explained that they concentrate on the internet orders, and if they are behind, trying to get them out the door, that they can be a little short. They run the store as a one man operation, so you can see that if he has internet orders, and a guy walks in, he cant do both at the same time. He also explained that if he talked to someone all the time like he talked to me today, that it would really put them behind. Today being Friday, it wasnt that busy, so, like I said we had a good time talking beer.

I understand more, why Hearts is the way that they are, and although I may not agree with it 100%, I definately have a better understanding about it.

Since I was there I picked up one of his homemade stir plates, and a 2000ml flask, and the book "Designing Great Beers".

Anyways, just thought I would post a "happy" trip, since I was one of the original people that said it was horrible there.

 

[Neunelfer]

I just want to say, that I went back into Hearts homerew today, and I had a GREAT time talking to the owner, he was friendly, helpful, and a pleasure to be around.
I told him about the bad rap that they get, and he explained that they concentrate on the internet orders, and if they are behind, trying to get them out the door, that they can be a little short. They run the store as a one man operation, so you can see that if he has internet orders, and a guy walks in, he cant do both at the same time. He also explained that if he talked to someone all the time like he talked to me today, that it would really put them behind. Today being Friday, it wasnt that busy, so, like I said we had a good time talking beer.

I understand more, why Hearts is the way that they are, and although I may not agree with it 100%, I definately have a better understanding about it.

Since I was there I picked up one of his homemade stir plates, and a 2000ml flask, and the book "Designing Great Beers".

Anyways, just thought I would post a "happy" trip, since I was one of the original people that said it was horrible there.

Sorry but that is BS. It's called good customer service. They are trying to maximize profit by only employing 1 person. The owner can't play the "I only have 1 employee" because that is his or her fault. If the service is bad, and they wish to run an internet store, why buy from them if you can get it cheaper online?

 

[SilverKing]

I just want to say, that I went back into Hearts homerew today, and I had a GREAT time talking to the owner, he was friendly, helpful, and a pleasure to be around.
I told him about the bad rap that they get, and he explained that they concentrate on the internet orders, and if they are behind, trying to get them out the door, that they can be a little short. They run the store as a one man operation, so you can see that if he has internet orders, and a guy walks in, he cant do both at the same time. He also explained that if he talked to someone all the time like he talked to me today, that it would really put them behind. Today being Friday, it wasnt that busy, so, like I said we had a good time talking beer.

I understand more, why Hearts is the way that they are, and although I may not agree with it 100%, I definately have a better understanding about it.

Since I was there I picked up one of his homemade stir plates, and a 2000ml flask, and the book "Designing Great Beers".

Anyways, just thought I would post a "happy" trip, since I was one of the original people that said it was horrible there.

it's great to hear you got good service while you were in there. I hope they keep it up.

as far his explanation of them being "short" when they're behind... the guy was reading a book when I interrupted him last time:cross: