Main Grain Homebrew shop mysteriously closed in Mandeville, LA

BrewSwag 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
T

tallahasseegreys

Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2013
Messages
16
Reaction score
1
I'm guessing this is a shot in the dark, but does anyone know what's up with the North Shore's only and awesome homebrew shop? It mysteriously closed with no notice or sign on the window or explanation on the answering machine. People bought gift cards right after thanksgiving that could not be used till 26-Dec, and the shop has been closed since before Christmas. The Facebook page has little info, and despite many inquiries on the FB page, there has been no recent update. I feel bad for those who have a couple hundred bucks tied up in limbo and am surprised that the owner waited till people were complaining on the FB site to actually tell everyone that the shop is closed indefinitely.

Anyone got the inside scoop?
 
Supposedly, the owner is having some sort of permitting issue(s) with the local authorities. This area is known for rampant corruption among public officials, so I can't say I'm surprised. Most likely, somebody didn't get paid off and is using some sort of obscure local statute to close the store down.

The owner, Ron, sent out this email to the local homebrew club on 12/28/2013:
Main Grain is temporarily closed. I am working with the officials to reopen, but with the holidays, everything is taking longer then normal. I will let everyone know when Main Grain is back open for business.
Click to expand...

This was a little over 2 weeks ago. Recently, the website (maingrain.com) has been displaying a message that it is "Temporarily closed for updates". My assumption is that he just pulled the site down to prevent people from placing online orders that he will not be able to fulfill. Also, within the last few days, the store's answering machine message has changed to a more generic message that makes no mention of Main Grain whatsoever. So it doesn't look good, from what I understand. Hopefully I am wrong, as I also have money tied up in what is currently a worthless gift certificate.
 
Yea. That's pretty much what I have gathered as well. I am pretty bummed. And worse, in my humble opinion, the owner has done a disastrous job managing his customer's expectations. I I guess it's possible maybe he got some sort of cease and desist order which prevents him from doing anything whatsoever related to conducting business, including talking about when he might open or delivering a message to his client base. But aside from that, the way this has gone (is going) down is quite odd. Hopefully he's back soon, but it ain't lookin good.
 
tallahasseegreys said:
Yea. That's pretty much what I have gathered as well. I am pretty bummed. And worse, in my humble opinion, the owner has done a disastrous job managing his customer's expectations. I I guess it's possible maybe he got some sort of cease and desist order which prevents him from doing anything whatsoever related to conducting business, including talking about when he might open or delivering a message to his client base. But aside from that, the way this has gone (is going) down is quite odd. Hopefully he's back soon, but it ain't lookin good.
Click to expand...

Agree with that part in bold. I know the owner, and he definitely isn't a "take the money and run" type of guy, so I have no worries there. An update would be nice, so everyone isn't left hanging.
 
You know, I was skeptical about the whole gift card deal. I found it odd that I would have to wait one month to use it after paying for it. Granted, the gift card value was $200 and you only had to pay $100 for it. But...it always seemed like he had cash flow problems. What I mean is...he never had anything in stock it seemed like. Want this? Gotta order it. Want that? Gotta order it. And even to order something you had to pre pay. And when you did pre pay, it never came in when you were told it would come in. "I think it might be coming next Wednesday" or whatever.

To me the gift card deal seemed like a way for him to generate some cash on hand. This is all pure speculation. But with zero communication to his eager customers, speculation is all we are left to do.

It is much more difficult to rebuild trust than it is to build trust.
 
tallahasseegreys said:
You know, I was skeptical about the whole gift card deal. I found it odd that I would have to wait one month to use it after paying for it. Granted, the gift card value was $200 and you only had to pay $100 for it. But...it always seemed like he had cash flow problems. What I mean is...he never had anything in stock it seemed like. Want this? Gotta order it. Want that? Gotta order it. And even to order something you had to pre pay. And when you did pre pay, it never came in when you were told it would come in. "I think it might be coming next Wednesday" or whatever.

To me the gift card deal seemed like a way for him to generate some cash on hand. This is all pure speculation. But with zero communication to his eager customers, speculation is all we are left to do.

It is much more difficult to rebuild trust than it is to build trust.
Click to expand...


He actually did the 1/2-price gift card last year, and there were no problems at all with it. I don't know what's going on now, but I don't like it. I do know that he let his stock get pretty low before moving to the new store, but I assumed that was because it would be less inventory that he would have to move to the new store.

The homebrew club he belongs to meets tonight, but I won't be at the meeting. I might ask around and try to find out if anybody sees or hears from him tonight.
 
Ok cool. Please post back if you hear anything. As I said in my initial post, despite my disappointment in the way this is so weirdly going down, I am more bummed than anything. I mean, I have a homebrew shop 4 minutes from my house! But it's closed, kinda, maybe, possibly. Such a tease. I can get my stuff online, but having a local place is awesome.
 
I'm far away, but my LHBS was closed for a couple of weeks around Christmas. Then I heard it was being sold back to the original owner. I did manage to find it open last Sunday and use my G.C. Then I learned it is being sold to a third party. It's a small store with limited supplies, I often wondered how it could be profitable.
Good luck with yours.
 
Got a couple of emails from him today.

This was one sent (presumably) to Main Grain customers:
Due to unforeseen Governmental legal issues, I regret to inform you that Main Grain is not able to reopen at this time. If, at a future date, if we are allowed to reopen, we will liquidate the entire inventory. Your gift certificates will be fully honored at that time. If not, you will receive a full refund of your purchase price. Please, with sincere apologizes accept that we have not relayed this information to you sooner. We will keep you informed of the situation and let you know when liquidation will occur.

Thanks again,
Ron
Click to expand...

This one was sent to the local homebrew club:
It is with sincere regret that Main Grain will not be reopening. Without getting in to details, there have been issues that have been ongoing and have been very difficult to overcome. The saying is you can win the battle, but lose the war. At this point, we are choosing to give up the battle and the war.

I want to thank friends and family, industry partners, as well as old customers and new customers for the support you have given over the last two and a half years. I have met many new people and gained many new friends. You all have a place in my glass! I had my dream job. I never went in to work, I went in to play! I am hopeful that I can still open a brewery in the future.

Some people have special orders that are in and some people have items in the store on consignment. I am working on getting those to the proper people.

I will keep everyone informed on any news.

Remember, friends don’t let friends drink B-M-C!

Cheers!

Ron
Click to expand...
 
I'm guessing that it was something political that caused all of this. I know that there were never any problems when he had the store in Abita Springs. When he moved the store to Mandeville, he also planned on opening up a brewpub next door. I wouldn't be too surprised to hear that the Blossman family (owners of Abita Brewery) were behind this. At any rate, this is awful.
 
Main Grain is not able to reopen at this time. If, at a future date, if we are allowed to reopen, we will liquidate the entire inventory. Your gift certificates will be fully honored at that time. If not, you will receive a full refund of your purchase price.......

So...what in the world does this mean? If he is NOT allowed to open at a future date he will refund your money??? What is the upper limit if this hypothetical, future date. Man, I am sure he's a nice guy. But this is unbelievable.

The proper message is, "All gift card purchases will be fully refunded immediately. Apologies for the inconvenience."

Sheesh. What a goat rope.
 
Word on the street is he was fined for serving home brew and didn't pay the fines. Also heard he wasn't paying any taxes. I bought the gift card deal last year and was only able to spend around $10 because they never had what I wanted in stock. It was always coming in next week.
 
If it has to do with the government, it most likely has to due with taxes. He should be able to just open up with a different name and business liscence.
 
OK. So he is closed, several people purchased spent $100 for a $200 gift card at Christmas that we could not use for a month. Sounds like fraud, but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Has anybody successfully received a refund on this purchase? I have fb messaged him with my GC code #; awaiting reply.
Thanks,
Allen
 
The way Ron handled this whole situation proves that he is not mature enough to own his own business. He pocketed all that money and has no plans of honoring or refunding anything. Refunds should have been issued Dec.27 when he couldn't honor the contract. He should watch his back from now on. And all you out there still waiting for your money. Just start going to all the Mystic Krewe of Brews meetings every month and start putting some pressure on the guy.
 
I tried to support Ron's business from the day he opened. However, there wasn't one visit, out of maybe 25, that didn't turn into a substitution fest. He was just never even half-way stocked on items. Malt, hops & yeast, that's all it takes, and subs, not even decent ones, were always necessary on at least one, if not two, of the three ingredients. He always seemed to be a nice, but unapologetic, guy. It would be unfortunate if the sharing of homebrew at the store was his undoing.

I'll certainly admit, homebrew supplies is a niche market that may not be sustainable or profitable on the northshore. The move to the new location seems questionable, if the business wasn't turning a profit, but the lack of stock seems to point in that direction. The newest addition of all the hot sauce was just odd.

It's truly a shame that it appears to have ended on a bad note. I wasn't caught up in the gift certificate problem, since I had seldom been able to find what I needed at the store. I count myself lucky. Main Grain is listed as an LLC, which likely insulates Ron from personal financial responsibility. Unfortunately, all that influx of cash during his holiday specials may have gone to creditors and all that is left is inventory. I wish everyone luck.
 
Just noticed today that the maingrain.com domain has not been renewed. Also, the Main Grain Facebook page, where many customers have been asking a lot of questions, has been cancelled, only a cached version can be found.

Anyone have any updates to share?
 
A friend of mine was in there last year when a couple of STP cops came in and hauled Ron off in handcuffs. That doesnt sound like Taxes to me. He said they ran the customers out and locked the place up put old Ronnie in the back of their vehicle and hauled him off.
 
Sorry to hear about all this and you guys getting stuck with useless gift certificates. Perhaps you can file a (small) claim, although you need to fork over more money to do that. Then you'd be added to the list of creditors. Don't know how secured the certificates are, compared to say a bank's loan. And everyone comes last after Uncle Sam. Looks like a deep hole.
 
From the St. Tammany Parish Blotter:

"GUZMAN, Ron PETER. 12/11/13 10:08 ---address removed----- COVINGTON Asian/pacific I Male 04/14/1969 STPSO
Charges Statute ID Description Counts Offense Status
1 CCRP:21 CONTEMPT OF COURT 1 COMMITTED"

Maybe the story earlier in this thread is accurate that Ron didn't pay a fine.

I sure hope this wasn't JUST for serving homebrew at the shop. That would suck.
 
Contempt of court can trigger an arrest as well as jail based on combination of original charge/judge/lawyer, etc, but not a total shuttering of the business. Since it has been brought up, I've been looking at trying to find what the law is regarding beer samples at a LHBS. Even serving samples shouldn't close a business, look at how many bars get popped for serving minor and it is usually a ticket/fine training for the staff and the business keeps chugging along.

Seem like the laws are handled differently state by state so anyone know what the law is in Louisiana for samples at an LHBS/brewclub event/etc?
Cheers!
 
It could have been that he was serving home brew and was fined and did not pay the fine. That would fit in with the original rumor that that was the case as well as not paying his taxes. In Louisiana you cannot even serve samples without a liquor license if I understand correctly

Sent from my SM-N900V using Home Brew mobile app
 
This guy tried to stiff me on some kegs bought on Ebay.

Liar and a cheat. He's not gonna give you your money back without a fight, guaranteed.

Glad to see the place is shut down.
 
Hey guys - he stiffed a lot of suppliers. Me included. For a sick amount of money. I know of several other vendors that got the shaft too. He isn't the "nice guy" he portrays himself to be. Too bad there are people in the world like this.

John B.
 
JohnSand said:
I'm far away, but my LHBS was closed for a couple of weeks around Christmas. Then I heard it was being sold back to the original owner. I did manage to find it open last Sunday and use my G.C. Then I learned it is being sold to a third party. It's a small store with limited supplies, I often wondered how it could be profitable.
Good luck with yours.
Click to expand...
JohnSand, that wouldn't be Brewtopia/Port Jeff Hop Shop, would it?
 
BlichmannEngineering said:
Hey guys - he stiffed a lot of suppliers. Me included. For a sick amount of money. I know of several other vendors that got the shaft too. He isn't the "nice guy" he portrays himself to be. Too bad there are people in the world like this.

John B.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear that John. This situation keeps getting worse and worse. It's getting very hard to give Ron Guzman the benefit of the doubt anymore.

I just received a 10% Main Grain Coupon. Is it good to be missed?

capture-400x305-62331.jpg
 
Just curious, has anyone peeped in the windows to see if any stock still remained there?
 
petey_c said:
JohnSand, that wouldn't be Brewtopia/Port Jeff Hop Shop, would it?
Click to expand...

Pete, it is, but seems to have settled down. I was in last week, they are changing the layout, but have new stock on the shelves. Homebrewer's meetings there are 7pm, first Tuesday of each month. Come to the back door of the mall. I'll be there Tuesday.
 
JohnSand, Thanks that sounds good. Plotting now to go to Martha Clara Beer Fest in Aug. I'm working that day, but feel something coming on....
 
captlelo said:
Just curious, has anyone peeped in the windows to see if any stock still remained there?
Click to expand...
To get the thread back on topic.

I stopped by the shop yesterday and looked into the windows. There is a For Lease sign in the window. The store appears almost exactly as it did in November on my last visit. Lights are on and stock is still in place. Christmas tree still up and a handful of filthy brew buckets near the door.

The only thing I noticed missing is the double-wide merchandise cooler that was being used for hop storage. I could make out tire tracks in the dust on the floor, likely from the moving dolly used to move the cooler out.
 
:mug:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ATTENTION~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

:tank:​
The Main Grain has permanently closed its doors


!!!~~~FULL INVENTORY MUST GO~~~!!!

Items being sold pennys on the dollar

Appointments must be scheduled for buying​


:rockin: email [email protected] :ban:

:drunk: call 985.807.3242 :drunk:
 
VT NAV....
I'd love to take your $5!

Ron was shut down when 2 sheriffs deputy showed up for thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes..

I originally got on this form to figure out what had happened to my homebrew store... Since y'all knew nothing I had to take matters into my own hands

If y'all are not interested that is fine... The other day I tried to go into the store and the owner of the building was there. He let me get the things that I was looking for and I swapped information with him so that I can attempt to help him so all the merchandise..
 

Similar threads

M
  • Article
Craft Beer And Homebrewing In Italy
Replies
14
Views
3K
juszaias
J

Latest posts

Back
Top