becoming a regular at new stores

Yeah, I missed that, no way I would bring a bottle to bribe anyone....that is indeed bullshit.

 

This is a tough one. It's sort of like this. Actually kinda sorta like this. There are two comic book stores in the city I live in. They both sell the same comic books at the same prices. I went in one of them and the guy never looked up, never spoke. never acknowledged we were even in his store. In the other one, the manager greeted me warmly, asked what I was interested in, offered to get them off the shelf for me, and struck up a conversation. Guess which store I patronize. He treated me like I mattered even though it was the first time I had ever been in his store. Now that I am a regular, he knows me by name, the things I'm interested in, and even loans me DVDs out of his personal collection.

Now my point is that I was treated well when I first walked in, but I doubt he would have been loaned DVDs as a brand new customer. All this to say that regulars probably should expect an elevated level of service, but new customers (who might become regulars) need to be made to feel welcome as well. Anybody who does not value the customer who occasionally walks in is probably on the road to out of business.

BTW: my bottle shop posts stuff like the arrival of KBS or Hopslam on Facebook and it is first come first served.

 

Wait a minute you mean to tell me there are BA's being beta no way!!! Well at least there aren't any women around to witness our shame, let alone call us out on it........your girlfriend looks cute in that picture btw.

Kidding aside I know lots of people at different stores I don't go to any particular one all the time but all of them seem to remember me for whatever reason. So I think rather than trying to force a place to become your local spot just let it happen.

As far as gifts for beer guys goes. I did give a 120 to the beer guy at my grocery store for Xmas but he was hooking me up way before that happened and it was an extra in a trade he helped me get a couple things for so in this instance I saw it fitting. Anything else essentially amounts to bribery.

 

Haha, yes, it would truly be a shame if there were women around to see it. How could life go on after that!? ;p

 

In a store I don't know the name of, off an interstate I don't know the number of, in a town I can't remember, in the middle of Georgia I stopped by a liquor store. The dude who worked there noticed I was checking out the craft with great interest. He brings out a sixer of Hopslam and says, "I save this beer for the people who like the good stuff" and hands it to me.

I wish I could say I will go there again. However, seeing that I was down there for a wedding of friends that have since moved out of that town, I highly doubt I will ever be returning. Nevertheless, I tell that story frequently because it continues the ripples of beer karma. He treated me like I was an important customer. That makes a big difference. Luckily for me, he didn't work for Captain Douche Liquors like the OP's dude.

 

Not to mention, at least some of those beers aren't all that rare. I don't know about some of the beers because they're not distributed here, but Stone Old Guardian should be all over the place and Sour in the Rye is sitting on shelves at half a dozen stores I know of.

Stores do this kind of thing for one reason: because they can, and they know it.

 

The customer should always expect courtesy and respect. A person should never kowtow to a retailer just so you can give them your money. No beer is worth that. I would suggest finding a store that wants your business, then after you've built a relationship with them, ask if they can score some of the more limited stuff for you.

 

I'd at least let them know they lost a customer. If they want to be cold to you, you can be the same.

Take your money elsewhere.

 

I doubt I'm in the minority here, but I'm not interested in chatting up the staff when I'm shopping for beer. Not that I'm an asshole or anti social, I just don't need to. I browse the aisles, find something that sounds appealing and buy it. If an employee asks me if I'm looking for something I tell him I'm just browsing because I rarely ever go in knowing what I want. If I see another customer carefully looking at something I've had and liked I'll tell him it's good. Sometimes I talk with the staff for a bit if I have a question or request but that is the exception to the rule. I don't go there to socialize, I go there to buy beer.

 

Completely agree. I'm as friendly as the next guy (OK, you got me, I'm probably not), but my main objective when I go to the beer store is to buy beer. "Making nice" with the owner or staff is all well and good if you're so inclined and have the time, but it should never be some kind of prerequisite for buying beer they have in stock. That mentality is ass-backwards.

 

Maybe it's just me, but I always thought that you establish yourself as a regular customer FIRST and THEN you get afforded picks of rares that average Joes may or may not get a chance at.
IMO go back strike up a conversation with the beer Guy and mention that you're new to the area, a beer geek and interested in beets X, Y, and Z. Also make sure that you're spending money there on things other than rares.

 

It may not just be you, but it sure isn't me. I've been buying every beer that I've wanted since sometime in 2010 when I first started getting into this crazy rare beer thing, and not once have I been told that my money wasn't good enough or that I wasn't "regular" enough to buy it. Frankly, I'm surprised so many people are willing to put up with this kind of treatment.

 

As a corollary to this, if a craft bar gets a keg or a few bottles of a rare beer do they hold it for "regulars?" HELL NO! They put it on the board and sell it to anyone who's willing to pay for it. Why should a store be different?

 

I'm a regular at the best stores in calgary. Got me a ton of limited releases that never made it to shelf (brewdog abstrakt and dog a for example this month) also gets you a great conversation every time you are in

 

I have found myself to be "that" new guy before". I take it to be a challenge. I buy a fair amount of beer and good wine so I buy the shelve stuff, build a relationship, and then ask for limited stuff.

Play along with them until you start getting the back room stuff.

I have also found that a nice tip will go along way.

I got a call about a special bottle of wine today. I bought a few and was given a comp one as well

 

In situations like this, sometimes I use the "play dumb" tactic.

If it were me, I'd go in and tell them you'd like to sign up for their "frequent shopper" card. When they tell you they don't have one, you then ask how one goes about becoming a regular and/or is allowed to purchase things like ZD, etc. At this point, they're either going to say that everyone is allowed to buy whatever they'd like, or that you need to be a regular to buy ZD. Again, ask to sign up for the frequent shopper card to prove your "regular-ness" and go around in this circle until they realize how ridiculous their "policies" are. And if they don't, then you walk out because you have your answer as to what kind of store this really is.

 

I said with someone I just met. Not someone I'm familiar with. Also, your original post regarding this makes it seem as if you're trying to bribe the guy. If I'm treated as badly at a new store as OP makes it sound, I'm shopping elsewhere. I have no energy to deal with that kind of nonsense. My money is as green as everyone else's.