Westy's, Wegmans, and Nugget Nectar

That quote sounds like sour grapes. I still don't get the point of this thread. Nugget Nectar was not hard to come by.

 

I'm also confused by this thread as well, and in particular this last post.

 

Yeah, I don't find this to be true at all. I have several distributors by me that still had a few cases of NN as of Friday. And I'm not sure what you mean by "anywhere reasonably," but I've had craft beer at my disposal for as long as I've been regularly purchasing it ~2005.

 

I think they meant non-cases, but it's a little

It appears that there is a lot of variance. In SEPA the Warrington store is inferior to Collegeville and Malvern. I can't speak for Downingtown. In years past, NN only lasted a few days at Wegman's and a few weeks, if not more, at distributors. AFAIK, HopSlam never made it to any of the Wegman's stores. They have a very good selections, but do not really carry limited stuff. The WF stores get more of that type of stuff and are very hit and miss with regular lineup type beer. Anything limited rarely lasts more than a day Plymouth Meeting and usually goes pretty quickly from Devon as well.

Anyway, I don't really understand why the OP's angry and what the scenario of cases leaving Westy's and NN still being at Wegman's has to do their (Westy's) business dying. Sounds like they're doing pretty freaking well to me.

 

I went to a hole in the wall distributor down the road from me in Susquehanna Township on Saturday, and he had at least a dozen cases of Nugget sitting on the floor. Even asked me if I wanted one cold, which told me there were more floating around.

Collegeville Wegmans had a display of at least 20 cases last Saturday when I went. It sold out that quick? Wow. More importantly, are the 20-30 cases of Big Black Voodoo Daddy still there?

 

Just to give you an idea, Westy's sold a 75 case allotment in a day and a half. Most distributors will not move that many cases of beer at a mid 40's price point in 4-6 weeks.

 

Yo, "chcfan" is SPOT-ON for Southeastern PA. Hopslam was never available at the 2 big grocery stores. However, Nugget Nectar is everywhere (if only for short periods time).

In Central PA, Bell's may have wholesale rights thru Westy's, but it's all controlled by Shangy's throughout SE PA.

Troegs is also Wholesaled through more places, including Banko (who just lagged by 2-3 days on shipment #2 of NN ... but I'm not complaining about the sixtel I have waiting for me!)

 

My local Wegmans (Bethlehem) has NN for $10.99/six, which is actually cheaper per beer than the $46 (with tax) that I paid for a case at my distributor the day it came out. Wegmans has been a great option for good beer since they started selling it. We really don't have many bottle shop (non-distributor) options in my area so they tend to have inflated prices, often making Wegmans a more convenient, cost efficient option. Abe's is a nice shop, but he has really gone a little overboard with the single bottle markups.

 

Can you post some other beer pricing from yours? I stopped at the Downington location while traveling last weekend, and I was appalled by some of the pricing. Things that would run $8.49-8.99 at my Wegmans back in NY were $10.49 here! If I remember right, I think the Great Lakes 12 pack sampler was $20. I would guess that if that location has gotten any NN, it'd probably be $13. Curious to see if your location is charging out the ass for what should be relatively inexpensive brews.

 

Sam Adams spring mix pack was 19.99 for a 12 pack at Wegmans Collegeville yesterday

 

Most craft sixes are in the $10-12 range. The lower abv victory, troegs, weyerbacher, dogfish, Sam Adams, stoudts, flying dog etc. run 9.99 with the higher abv of those brands being 12ish. Bells, founders, green flash, breckenridge are uniformly 10.99 per package, be it six or four packs. Stone is generally 12-15 per six. Like I said, nugget nectar is 10.99 a six, which is surprising since I paid 46 with tax for my case at a usually very good priced distributor in my area. I would imagine the prices are pretty uniform between here and downingtown, but not surprising there is a discrepancy between the pa and ny locations. I have seen a recent increase across the board on their beer and the guy who stocks the beer says that will be a trend that continues.

 

yea the prices are a little higher than i would want at the downingtown wegmans, but when you think about it its because you are buying the 6pack and not a full case. it's the same concept as buying a single bottle. a markup is made to assure the price of the full case is met and made profit on and then you are also paying for the luxery just to try it and not but 24 bottles of something you arent sure about. most of the time dtown wegmans has prices that are the same as the exton and **** beverages and way way better than the restaraunts and stuff that sell sixers. plus a few of the beer guys are really really knowledgable and super pumped when you ask em about whats coming in and what they have in the back.

 

Is it, though? Where I grew up, a six pack of Sierra Nevada (for example) would cost about $8. A case? $30-32. At most, a cost savings of 50 cents per six pack for buying a full case.

In this instance, then, a $10.49 sixer of Sierra Nevada would imply a case price of $40. Really? $40 for that? Even full cases at the local distributor seem pricey. Terrapin Moo Hoo, for example, was going for $60. Even with no markup, that'd be $12.50 a six pack. With markup, I'd expect to see a sixer go for $15-16. Is that really what most people are paying?