A BA's dream... Organize my bottle shop!

One idea is to organize the cooler by brewery in alphabetical order. It'll make it easier for most craft enthusiasts to find what they're looking for if they're familiar with a particular brewery.

There's always organizing like Total Wine (well, the one that I usually go to). They organize by styles.

 

I like the style method, but within the styles go alpha by brewer. Kind of like a library.

That way if a person is looking for say a barrel aged stout they are not going all over the place to compare and see which one they want. But instead they can look at all the BA stouts and make a choice.

Only downside I see to this is if a person has tasted one offering from a brewer and loved it and want to try something else by them but don't know their other styles they be at a loss.

 

Imports/BMC/Craft by producer by region/singles & bombers

If I'm looking for something specific I think it's easier to wade through the masses if it's arranged by brewer rather than by style.

 

First, separate US and World Beers. Then take each of those categories and arrange by style. If you do not have enough room, just organize by style, mixing the US and world beers together...

 

Whatever you select, make sure that you can keep it fresh. Don't go crazy trying to stock every beer under the sun. Pick beers that people in that area will buy (and buy frequently). Beyond the quality of the beers selected, freshness is key as well.

 

why not just refrigerate the whole store? Somewhat like those awesome tobacconists with an amazing cigar selection, and the whole place is humidified and 72.

 

Organize it by country, then brewery.

 

I would respectfully disagree with separating by nationality, but agree with by style. I see @MicTar 's downside, but I also think there is a rare brewer I think that since they make great IPAs, I'd love to try "any other style" they make. Or at least within context, and in all seriousness, I would check BA, and not rely on my beer store.

Are more [craft] beer drinkers like me? Can't answer but guessing enough individual feedback to this thread will in one way or the other help. Hope so, and good luck, OP.

 

I think you need to get in touch with your customer base. Maybe through social media somehow. Figure out what THEY drink, what they want, and what would be an attractive aspect of your store to bring them back as regulars. I've kept it vague because I respectfully acknowledge that what they like may be very different than my preferences, or others here.

Get friendly with the people who buy a lot of beer there already. Get THEIR opinions.

 

You will need to upload to something like photobucket so that you can get a link

 

The store I work in now is a little small but how we have it set up are 7 fridges and then a few sets of shelves. In the fridges one is designated for imported bottles, the next imported bombers/750s. Then the three middle fridges are designated to domestic bottles and the final two domestic bombers. Now in each fridge-especially the domestic, it isnt neccisarily alpha order but each brewery is kept together except for cans so each shelf has one or two breweries. all cans go together in one fridge but still with the same breweries cans being beside eachother. Then on our shelves we do the same thing with domestic, grouping same breweries bombers/750s together and then for the import shelves we do it by country. However we sell everything by the bottle so you can do a mix-a-six but we only have individual bottles in the fridges.

 

IPA's in your coldest, darkest spot in the store

 

Mix up every style, country and brewery. Your customers will have to navigate through it all, probably find something new and even have some fun. Mix it up regularly. You won't have to worry about keeping any order at all (alphabetical?! What a nightmare!); when a new beer arrives, just find a space. You might want to have one 'theme' area that you rotate every month or so (i.e., Oktoberfest for fall, IPA's for summer, etc., or maybe concentrate on one brewery or country). I've worked with retail displays for years and changing it up WORKS!!

 

Organize by freshness. That way I don't even have to mess with the other stuff

 

Spoken by a true hop head!