Lhbs

[julioardz]

The big one for me is inventory. Invest in inventory. Nothing discourages me more from going back to a store than regularly seeing items out of stock or being told they have to be ordered. This goes for any retail. My other hobby is cycling. I regularly visit the more pricey bike shop in town because it has plenty of stock on parts and staff to help with their volume of customers. Same with my LHBS. I don't shop online because they have everything I have ever needed from a brew shop.

A friendly and knowledgable staff is a bonus and would be second on my list, followed by competitive pricing.

 

[DrunkleJon]

An important one for me is cleanliness and organization. Have all the grains very well organized and neatly labelled in bins, and keep everything clean. Having a mess of half empty grain sacks, ziplock bags, handwritten labels, etc. makes me want to walk right out. As does a 3" layer of grain dust covering everything.

I envy your HBS. Everything at mine is prebagged 1 lb specialty and 1, 5, 10 lb base with whole sack options. I would love to be able to dig portions of a pound out of a bin. I can see how it would be a pain, especially in the space available to do this at mine, but...

I would make an attempt to get younger brewers involved. if they get addicted like I did the influx of income would be significant and sustained over a long period of time

Not to mention that the younger crowds seem to have a harder time budgeting and will spend.

Everyone has pretty much said it. Friendly knowledgable Staff, Selection, Pricing.

CO2 Refills over swaps on site are always great, but there are probably understandable safety and staffing constraints on that. Not to mention that I love the grain card/group buy options.

 

[Darwin18]

I know it shouldn't have to be stated but greeting your customers with a friendly "Hi, how are you doing? Can I help you?" is a good start. I don't really care how great a store's inventory or selection is, if I feel disrespected or unwanted by the store's staff then I'll go to another business. There is a one LHBS here in Raleigh that treated me rudely on my first visit and I only ever go there to refill my CO2. I purchase everything else through other vendors.

 

[zachattack]

I envy your HBS. Everything at mine is prebagged 1 lb specialty and 1, 5, 10 lb base with whole sack options. I would love to be able to dig portions of a pound out of a bin. I can see how it would be a pain, especially in the space available to do this at mine, but...

Yeah I've been to a shop that was as messy as I described. I was trying to grab ingredients for my first all grain, and couldn't find anything at all. It was a disgusting mess, it even took an employee a good 15 minutes to get my grainbill together. "British pale ale malt? Oh I dunno where that is, let me look over here. Or maybe it's in this walk in fridge. Oh, I found a sack, it was under the table!"

Modern Homebrew in Cambridge MA is my LHBS now. They have such a beautifully organized inventory. A whole corner is dedicated for grains, and everything's in tupperwares, it's well labeled and clearly laid out. There are 5-6 different scales for hops, small amounts of grain, large amounts of grain, etc. They have different sized plastic bags, each with a label saying how many pounds of grain they're good for. Hops and yeast are well-organized with labels visible through fridge so you don't have to dig through everything with the door open.

Here are some pictures I found on Yelp. This is really my favorite thing about this shop.

Part of the grain selection:

Organized fridge:

 

[Gunfighter04]

Part of the grain selection:

Wonder where they sourced those bins. They look perfect

 

[kosmokramer]

I also plan on getting some t-shirts made... some full color one for me and some black on white to give away with orders over 100 or 150? Its always nice to get a free t-shirt plus its free marketing! The shop Im had some made with the saying on the back " Thank you homebrewing for making my alcoholism seem like a neat hobby" I happened to be there when he got his order in so he gave me one. I wore that tshirt everywhere, and it actually had alot of people askiing me if i actually brewed my own beer.
Comments?

 

[zachattack]

Wonder where they sourced those bins. They look perfect

I'm not sure, but they are perfect. This is less than half of their total selection. The large bins on the floor are for base malts, and they fit into carts that are on casters. So you can easily wheel them out of the way.

 

[Onihige]

Don't just offer to mill their grains, offer to mill it to their needs. There can be a huge difference, granted it'll be a PITA. Especially if they don't know what they want or need.

Create your own kits. They can buy most things elsewhere, but not your kits.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Tried and true recipe book?

 

[cluckk]

I just had the best experience of good customer service from my LHBS. The other day I went in to fill a recipe and they did not have my preferred base malt--they had just run out. I bought an alternative. They just called because they are ordering grain and they wanted to make sure my preferred grain was on the list--so they were checking to make sure they had it down right which one was it. They also asked if there were any other specialty malts they could order.

I have developed friendships with the clerks there and will even help other customers find the right products when the clerks are busy helping others. A place like that I will gladly support with my business.