homebrew store

[chefdesmith]

i am thinking of opening a homebrew store in bennington, vt. it's a small community of about 35,000. the nearest store is about an hour and a half drive in either direction. any thoughts, comments, suggestions would be helpful.

[MrNate]

From what I understand, it's not exactly a cash cow. If it were me, I would try to find some way to diversify the business.

It sounds like a good marketing radius, but I have no idea how many current and potential homebrewers live within that radius. 35,000 isn't a big pool to draw from, though.

Try to figure that out, then make some realistic projections. If you deal with any homebrew shops currently, see if you can get them to tell you a little about the business and help guide your projections. Usually small business owners are happy to help each other out if they're not in direct competition.

If the projections don't pencil out for opening a store but there is still some potential there, there's nothing wrong with setting up shop in your garage (assuming it's legal in your area).

[revans618]

I know of only 2 homebrew suppliers in our area and one does very well and the other doesn't. The one who does well also sells bottled beer, canned beer, wine, and is a state liquor agency, so he has all the bases covered. He also sells home wine-making kits. The other guy just sell homebrew supplies as a sideline type job. He's got a nice selection though but I don't think he makes much money off of it.

I would check into selling the beer and wine along with the homebrew supplies. Just my 2 cents.

[MrNate]

Or, and I may be making wild assumptions based on your screen name, you could do restaurant supply as well. Open it to the public, do cooking and brewing demos, that kind of thing. You might even look into Brew-On-Premise and Cook-On-Premise, though I just don't have faith in either as a long-term business model.

[larin1477]

I have one suggestion what not to do!!
If a guy comes into your store and he says "hey do you guys sell those little rubber o rings that go into the top of the fermenter, that the airlock slips into?"

Dont say "no, but we can order them"

And then the guy says "well, can you sell me one from one of the tops of fermenters you have and order one to replace it?"

and dont say "no we cant sell the tops and orings seperately"

cuz if you do you will not only lose the $ 25 sale from that batch I was brewing, but this place has also lost me as a customer forever....over a .69 oring ...

lol

I will say to not throw all your eggs into one basket!!...even in a large metro area I think a brewhouse would be hard pressed to make any money (at least for the obligatory 2 years for a small business)..

Whatever you decide I wish you sucess
God Bless
W

GO SOX!!

[wortchillergoal]

I go along with the restaurant supply or more likely a gourmet cook shop. The restaurant supply house I worked for, also did domestic, went into the homebrew business.

Your shop could offer a line or two of cookware, kitchen tools, and easy to handle foodstuffs and/or spices. The demos would be a great idea as well.

If not that, you might want to match it with another area of interest that could generate sales/income as well.

[MrNate]

Right, that's kind of what I was thinking. Offer the "discriminating consumer" an easy transition into the commercial realm.

[chefdesmith]

great ideas, you guys rock

[chefdesmith]

i talked to the publisher at byo magazine, and there are 125 subscribers to byo and 75 of wine making. i'm just not sure if thats enough of an inerest to make a living on but i was thinking of having brew "lessons" and i like the restaurant supply idea. i'm not sure the space i was looking at will be big enough. but, thanks for the input. the guy with the o-ring might have been a yankee fan.:D