Northern Brewer closed?

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I'm a Ritebrew fan as well, but I'm in MN. Spee-Dee is literally overnight almost always, even for the "normal" cost, it's great.

Dry yeast is very cheap there too.

 

[balrog]

I'll get 3 batches worth at a time from Ritebrew to alleviate shipping cost (I'm in MA) per batch and it is still *WAY* cheaper than driving an hour to the closest local, way overpriced, homebrew store. I cannot say enough great things about Ritebrew.

 

[SaisonMan]

I ordered from Northern Brewer nine days ago, and aside from a "Thank You for Your Order'' email that day, I haven't heard a word from them. They've even stopped sending me offers on their products, which is something they did every other day or so. I understand that they have a manpower shortage. But no update? Come on. I will reach out to them, but I shouldn't have to.

 

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I ordered some extra BMB lids and it was about 1.5 weeks or so for them to get shipped. Funny thing is the warehouse is perhaps 5 miles from me, and my neighbor works there, but gotta wait for it to come by UPS.

 

[Deadalus]

I've been in a similar situation with my business over the past 11 years probably 3 times. Some product just blows up and people talk it up and before you know it you're dragging your wife and inlaws in to help pick up the slack. The problem is that new people are barely any help and sometimes slows you down in the near term. The other problem is that it takes twice as long to tell everyone that you're running behind and you rationalize that every second is best spent being productive. I determined the best course of action is to shut ordering down for a day or two at a time to catch up. It's the honest thing to do.

Just wanted to say I happened to have ordered from you the very next day after you posted this. I got the notification that it was shipped 10 minutes after confirmation. I was like, there's no f***ing way he picked that order already but I figured it was a placeholder and you actually say something like that at your site-you've notified the carrier to expect it I think. I had over a dozen items on the order but it did physically ship a couple hours later and it was at my house two days later (lowest $ shipping). I happened to have ordered at the same time from a competitor (sorry, clearance), the order was just enough to cover shipping, but it took five days (including Sunday but it was Fedex).

Shoutout to brewhardware.com, the shipping was quick and the prices on the order were excellent. Screw Northern Brewer, AIH, and AHS, their prices aren't usually very good either.

 

[Bobby_M]

Just wanted to say I happened to have ordered from you the very next day after you posted this. I got the notification that it was shipped 10 minutes after confirmation. I was like, there's no f***ing way he picked that order already but I figured it was a placeholder and you actually say something like that at your site-you've notified the carrier to expect it I think. I had over a dozen items on the order but it did physically ship a couple hours later and it was at my house two days later (lowest $ shipping). I happened to have ordered at the same time from a competitor (sorry, clearance), the order was just enough to cover shipping, but it took five days (including Sunday but it was Fedex).

Shoutout to brewhardware.com, the shipping was quick and the prices on the order were excellent. Screw Northern Brewer, AIH, and AHS, their prices aren't usually very good either.

Thanks. There are a few days a week where I have max staff and someone is pretty much stationed at a computer checking for new orders like every 15 minutes. On minimum staff days, it may take a few hours or another day.

 

[mjdonnelly68]

Moved from Northern Brewer to MoreBeer after the BrewingTV debacle (yeah, I'm old and still bitter). Thought I'd give them a try again as they had a specific grain I was looking for that MoreBeer did not carry. Placed orders with both NB and MB on July 7th. Had my MB order in hand on July 11th. Still waiting for my NB order - as of today it hasn't even been picked yet let alone shipped. Reached out to them and received a similar message about staffing issues and a backlog. Told me on July 18th that there were currently working on orders placed June 24th. Ouch. Doesn't help to go online and see a "Christmas in July" sale while they can't even fufill orders from June yet. I agree with Bobby, they should communicate the correct expectation to customers when they are ordering and slow sales down a bit until they can catch up. Very poor customer service.

Just wanted to update that I did finally receive my order on July 26th. Wouldn't order from NB to brew next weekend. Might be ok to order from NB to brew next month.

 

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I'd say something about always going to the LHBS for that, but the silly thing is that NB / Midwest are my LHBS's.

 

[simbabrew]

I have ordered from William's Brewing for the last 20 years, never had a delayed shipment.

 

[RogerGrahl]

I've been ordering from Ritebrew.com for a long time since my favorites had shuttered their doors. He ships by the next day (sometimes same day) and it's very reasonable shipping and the best prices around. It's not far from me (it's in Wisconsin) so I get the fedex box really quick as well.

I like that he's small (maybe a 1 man show?) and I've never been missing a single thing..

Northern Brewer was my go to for years until their shipping got very bad. Weeks to receive an order just isn’t acceptable. I tried Ritebrew for the first time and my supplies arrived the next day. Plus I can order grain by the ounce. I hope Northern gets their act together, but I doubt I’ll ever go back.

 

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When Covid hit a while back, shipping of everything got delayed, and we were all understanding and good with it (generically speaking, anything you ordered from anywhere). Today we want it of course to all be back to normal. But when there are supply chain issues, staffing issues, and so on, the reality is that crap can still actually be really backed up and we aren't back to normal yet.

I think what we're seeing is that Ritebrew is a small company that has Neil there (plus maybe more people, I don't know) and so he's pretty on top of everything. Definitely goes out of stock on items, but overall does well and certainly ships right away. Northern's a huge company and is falling victim to supply chain and staffing issues. Same as it can be for any industry, comparing small and big companies.

I guess I'm just suggesting that long shipping times from Northern is basically a sign of the times right now. We don't need to be happy with it of course, and can go elsewhere. But shouldn't be surprised or anything.

 

[D the Catastrophist]

Longer lead times are annoying but can be planned for. The fact that they don't give you any warning or an estimate on when things will actually ship is a bigger nuisance. If they had a note on their website saying 'orders from x date are shipping by eob tomorrow', you can at least get an idea on when your order will arrive.

 

[aceluby]

I haven't gone into NB in a while, but I have gone to Midwest (their sister store) recently and while there are help wanted posters everywhere, the last two times I've gone there, there were 2-3 guys behind the desk not really doing anything (once they didn't even say hello or ask if I needed help). There were a few guys in the back, which I assume were handling the online orders, but I would think if they were weeks behind on grain orders (I made one because I'm lazy, didn't need it right away, and it took 3 weeks) that they might want to use some of those resources to keep the online folks happy? I don't know, I just know that I haven't been impressed with any of their customer service as of late.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

In my travels through the "upper mid west" and "north coast", I have been able to visit a number of physical home brew stores.

Midwest Supplies, as of this past spring, continues to have the best in store selection of grains and hops.

It's been fun, the couple of times I've been there, to chew on a couple of kernels, visualize a recipe, pick up the remaining ingredients (plus additional stock up items) and walk out the door with a brew day in hand.

YMMV.

 

[Iowa Home Brewer]

Still happening. Last order took 2 weeks. So they gave a 10 buck voucher. Ok. Now I have a order that no one wants to reply to. I've demanded a refund and haven't heard anything, NOTTA.
Unacceptable business practices.

On to other vendors who care.

 

[jturman35]

I placed an order on Aug 30th and sent them an inquiry yesterday and haven’t heard a peep! Sucks there is no LHBS near me.

 

[wepeeler]

I placed an order on Aug 30th and sent them an inquiry yesterday and haven’t heard a peep! Sucks there is no LHBS near me.

Can't believe they are still this backed up. Morebeer ships within 2 days almost every time, but they don't have the malt I want. That comes from NB

 

[jturman35]

Finally got an answer after two request in the Staus of my order. Had I know it would take this long upfront I would have gone elsewhere. I just ordered two acts of yeast and grains that are not milled. Can’t believe it takes this long to put an order together. I bought hops from YVH which arrived days ago.



Greetings, Jason

Thank you for the recent order. We have had some challenges with the current labor market and supply chains, which has lead to some delays. Your order was originally slotted to fulfill/ship on 9/5, but is currently back logged, by about 5-7 business days. we have brought on additional labor to help alleviate the back log.

We understand this will not work for everyone, if this is you, we can cancel the order if necessary. We do appreciate your continued patience, and will ship out your order as soon as possible. We are sorry for the additional wait. Please let me know if any changes are needed.

 

[jturman35]

Well they decided to finally ship my order on a Friday just so it can sit in a warehouse all weekend. Got two grain bills and two different yeast packs on order.

Gee Thanks Northern Brewer!