Beer in grocery stores.

Not to get off course, but where exactly are you located if you don't mind me asking? I live in South Georgia myself. Cordele, GA to be exact.

 

Arizona, Scottsdale - selection at grocery is TOO BIG. There's a lot now that are expired and don't rotate well. When it was a more compact selection it seemed more ideal because it was easier to find fresh sixpacks. Let the specialty stores have that kind of selection.

 

Not true for the Pittsburgh region either. While we still suffer (statewide) from archaic alcohol laws, Giant Eagle boasts some of the widest selection and best pricing (but doesn't dabble in the grey market, for which you must go to a select number of bottle shops) in the area. While not all Pittsburgh supermarkets have the ability to sell beer, the process is slowly improving and those that can sell beer, do sell pints and growlers.

 

Beer is usually a bit cheaper in the Supermarkets around here than in most of the bev stores. By you too?

My own personal buying habits have become (est.'ed) 20% Supermarket, 30% local breweries, 50% bev stores. 2 years ago I doubt I bought more than 3% of my beer at the Supermarket.

 

In Iowa grocery stores are the best place to buy beer. Craft and BMC.

It seems weird to me to go to states where I can't buy beer at grocery stores.

I went to Indiana last fall and I could buy warm beer at gas stations, and cold soda. But at the bottle shop I could buy cold beer but soda not allowed inside. Weird!

 

They are on the upswing in some areas of PA as large grocery store chains have figured out a way to get a license to operate an eatery on the premises so it feels like you are in the grocery store, but you still have to purchase the beer from the eatery cash register which is where you also purchase your food and/or beer for on premises consumption. So while it feels like you are buying your beer at a grocery store you are actually buying it from a separate business operating under the same roof as the grocery store. The one nearest me has a reasonable selection and seem to be concerned with keeping the stock fresh. So there are definite signs of improvement, but this is not universal througout PA but it does seem to be spreading to places where it is possible to support a grocery store operation that is large enough to offer the "amenities" of an eatery.

 

I live in a suburb that is not proximate to the respectable, independent bottle shops, so I'm probably 25% local breweries, 5% bottle shops and 70% grocery store.

 

I can't speak of the selection in al parts of town, as RVA has many pockets of decidedly NON craft beer fans, but two chains near me have stepped up. First, there is a Kroger nearest to me that is straight up killing it. It's like every time I go in (shop there weekly) there's yet another label or line entirely along with an ever growing quality pick six thing happening. They also have a standing dollar off per sixer discount on all craft beer if you buy four sixers.

Food Lion has also made quite nice strides, and I mean no BS strides, at least at the one nearest me. This is where I give the area of town disclaimer because if there aren't' 70 or more Food Lions in central VA, than I'm not sitting here, and I can guarantee that deep selection craft would be a really bad idea in some areas.

As if that embarrassment of grocery store riches weren't enough, we are getting two Wegman's in the area and another Whole Foods (not to mention the one we already have). You shall NOT hear me complain about access to very quality craft beer where I live!

 

In Massachusetts a company can not have more than 3 Liquor/Beer/Wine retail licenses under the same company name which keeps a lot of supermarkets from having alcohol for sale. That being said, the Price Chopper near me has an ever expanding selection of craft beers available. They still have a ways to go and you won't find any whales there but it's fun to go every few weeks to see if they have something new/interesting/worthwhile to try.

 

What are the Supermarket craft beer selections like in your home areas?
Amazing. Jewel, Mariano's and Woodman's offer a mind boggling amount of craft options. Even Walgreens carries Revolution and some Half Acre here.

Have they improved?
Absolutely, especially over the last 5 years.

Do you have growler fills in your Supermarkets?
No. It would be a nice option though.

How do the craft beers there seem to sell?
I'm not too sure to be honest.

What percentage of your craft purchases are from Supermarkets?
Under 10%. I don't do the grocery shopping.

Are there any beers you thought you would never see for sale in your Supermarkets, but now are for sale there?
The local stuff. But, I would say that's more of a testament to the growth of Half Acre, Revolution, etc.

Any other comments or observations?
It's pretty easy for me to tell you why I don't shop grocery stores for beer...I have good bottle shops, liquor stores and breweries in the area that are accessible for me. Since my girlfriend does all of the grocery shopping, I don't really find a need to go to the grocery store since I have other options to purchase alcohol. Maybe they could try moving the beer closer to where men tend to go when they go grocery shopping...For instance, Whole Foods has stacks of craft beer near the meat/seafood area.

 

It is a bit cheaper at the grocery stores here as well, and they have sales.

I am probably 40% grocery, 30% beverage stores, 30% brewery. Brewery would be higher if you could purchase SofS and Heady Topper at the brewery. I need to go to beverage stores for those.

 

It's

And to add to this, Wegman's has much more craft than BMC. I buy most of my beer from Wegman's and sometimes
Giant. At Giant the craft offerings trump the BMC selection as well, though not by as wide of a margin. I also have 2 bottle shops within a mile of my house. I patronize one of them pretty often. No growler fills in either supermarket; just the bottle shop. But I'm fine with that.

 

With growler stations and a great selection, topped with great pricing, the Giant Eagle grocery store chain in the Pittsburgh, PA area has taken a strong hold of the market.

With the strange beer laws in PA, the bottle shops are charging silly markups for craft bottles (because they think they can) and GE has seized that opportunity to gobble up as much craft beer for some of their shelves. But it takes a strong "beer team" for the store to flourish.

 

For PA that's not a straightforward question...

If you don't mind buying a full case the PA beer distributers are definitely the cheapest. Not only is it the cheapest in PA, but PA case prices are usually much cheaper than neighboring states, including Delaware. Laws for PA distributers also recently allowed them to sell 12-packs, which is a step in the right direction.

If you want to buy singles or six packs and you live near a grocer that sells beer, the grocer is probably your cheapest option. Otherwise you have to buy singles/six-packs from a small bars/bottle shops, which can be very expensive. However, small specialty bottle shops might have more unique/rare beers that the grocers don't stock.

[Rant: The PA bars that use up precious seating space to put in an ugly cooler with awful beer selection, and charge $15+ for 6-pack of Victory or Sierra Nevada because there is no other option can all go to hell! Bring on the grocery store sales to give them some competition and hopefully end this! ]

 

Wegmans sells beer in NJ. They actually have a pretty good selection. Mind you, not the kind of selection you will see at the best bottle shops nearby, but they have plenty of craft 6 packs, cases, and singles in small/large format. Not too far from me, over the bridge in PA, Weis Markets are doing a nice job of stocking craft beer too.

 

Agreed. The problem is that a lot of beer sits at the Pkg. stores (no I don't call them distributors because they really aren't distributors, they are Case or Packaged stores) get great beer but a lot of people don't want to plop down $80-$130 for one type of beer. There is still a case of Blushing Monk and a case of Backwoods Bastard at one of the Pkg. stores here in town.

This leaves a huge gap for the grocery stores to fill in and they are doing it well.

 

Sierra Nevada, Lagunitas, Stone, Sam Adams, Oskar Blues, and New Belgium dominate the supermarket shelves here in central SC. There are some locals like Westbrook, home-town boys River Rat, and Palmetto. Beers I used to be able to get that have disappeared from my local Publix: Spaten, Fullers, Urquell (guess there's not enough cooler space to honor their freshness initiative anymore).

 

This is the other side of the coin. When I lived in Florida it was a lot of competition for a small amount of space given to craft beer. Publix for instance would have most of a (already small footprint) section of cold AB/Miller etc. 1/8 the space for craft. So you would see 1 or 2 sku's of a handful of breweries.

You see this at a few of the GE stores here in PA but a lot have gotten on board the craft train and are giving a good amount of space to beer that seems to be moving at a clip.

 

Giant Eagle Market District in Robinson (west of Pittsburgh) has a fantastic selection of craft beer. They also fill growlers at a small bar in the store. Even the GetGo gas station in Robinson has over 100 different beers to choose from. I feel like a kid in a candy store at Market District.
Hell I even scored fresh Hopslam at a Giant Eagle in Upper St. Claire and Hoptimum in the Crafton store.

 

I'm in Rhode Island and the supermarkets that I've been to don't sell beer