MPLS Black Friday/BCBS

Belle Plaine Coborn's liquor had regular for 10.49 each, but no posted limit. I grabbed several. Still like 8 or so in the cooler.

 

we stopped by lowry hill in the morning and they told us 2:00 release. Then we stopped right before 2 and they said 2:30 release and they had coffee and BW. We got there at 2:30 to find only regular for 16.50. What a joke. We got 4 bottles under retail at Hennlake easily. Lowry is complete crap.

 

i was a bit sticker shocked at Lakeside but being i hit there frequently, just went with it. being that Sids was quite well priced and i found a few BCBS for under retail, it made it all even i guess. plus, wasnt going to turn down the chance at the coffee.

 

I remember Darkness there was like 30 or something crazy

 

Anyone see anything left out in the Minnetonka/Excelsior area today?

 

True, that's how Goose does it, and if you're going for authenticity that's the way to do it, but I like my way better for two reasons. One: I'm lazy and my way is easier, and two: putting the beans right in the beer doesn't water down the beer at all and results in a great "smack you in the face" coffee flavor. I actually prefer espresso beans for this reason.

 

I work in a different store, but something really needs to be said. A lot of stores did not get their shipment in until Friday morning. There's no way for us to know when the distributor is going to stop in. When we opened we had 20 people waiting outside, and no idea when we were going to get it in. People were massive dicks about it too, and a lot of them never shopped with us before, were onto their third store, and were harassing our staff. By the time the distributor did show up we had another 20 people, and people were calling in nonstop. People are ridiculous about this event, and it's turning into more of a bad thing. People really need to check their expectations about this release, and cut the stores some slack.

 

Bingo

 

Feel free to sell it at a specific time and post it. Saves a lot of guesswork. Just a thought.

Or, you could just say "check back tomorrow"

 

Maybe this is a dumb question but what is preventing the distributor from dropping the beer off prior to friday? If every store had it at opening things would be simpler

 

I'm sorry, but it doesn't work this way. This is the one beer release a year where people know it's going to be on a specific date and relative time. If we said we were not going to release it until a specific time time, then chances are that would make things worse, because 100 people would be lined up. Plus when you have a mob of beer nerds and truck chasers impatiently waiting, we are pretty much at their mercy. People just need be realistic, and realize stores are not going to bend over backwards for you.

 

The week of Thanksgiving is pretty much the worst week of the year for distribution, because of the shortened week. They try and cram in all the shipments into three days, and logistically it becomes a mess. Plus the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is the biggest drinking day of the year, so bars and restaurants require a bit more attention. It would make things easier if Goose Island requested absolutely no one could sell until noon to alleviate the shit storm this day causes.

 

There are rave reviews here about how SLL handled this event. Is is possible for your store, and others, to follow their model? Or, did they get their shipment early, and thus, were prepared to handle the onslaught?

By the way, many years ago, I worked seven Black Fridays in retail...it was not fun...so I understand.

 

I don't run the show at my place, but this day is kind of interesting event because it gets bigger every year. Given that SLL had the event advertised, and the shipment they received, I'm guessing they had it well worked out in advance. Last year we had received our allotment before Thanksgiving, so it wasn't an issue. This year though was a different story. We had maybe five people waiting last year, and it wasn't such an ordeal. The goose island acquisition has turned this into a much bigger deal, and obviously not everyone was prepared for it, from the distributors to the stores.

 

8 bottles of regular left at the Delano muni. No limit $9.99 per

 

South Lyndale was an excellent experience thanks to the staff there as well as the folks from Goose for organizing this. Arrived at 6:00am and was around 50 to 60 in line. Enjoyed the free coffee, pastry and yeah the samples. Met some nice folks in line including a guy in town from Boston for the holiday and two folks from Woodbury that happen to go to the same bar I do. Allotment and pricing there was great, glass, coffee and poster from Goose was icing on the cake.

Went to Costco in **** Rapids and snagged 4 bottles right after they opened at 9 for $7.99. Went to G-Will in Champlin and Andover paid $9.99 for two bottles each, hit up a Cub Foods on Lexington off of 694 for three bottles at $9.99 and headed home. NOT one rude person or price gauging anywhere I went.

Basically avoided any place with a 1 bottle limit like Total Wine. Wish I had found more than one bottle of Coffee and one bottle of Barleywine but still thankful I got any.

Hate to hear about some of the pricing people were seeing, there is NO excuse for that. Also don't blame the distributors they get what they get and do their best to get it out there. Heard some of the stuff delivered East of the Cities and down south day of was due to stores selling early in the past. Overall I thought it was a fun day minus the nasty cold I have from standing outside for two hours waiting for beer.

Cheers!

 

Looking for 1 bottle of Rare, please private message me with any info. Thanks!

 

More in the STC area.

Coborns liquor apparently hasn't gotten theirs yet. Now take this with a grain of salt, because it I was told this by a younger person who didn't seem to know what it was.

Westside Liquor East STC only got 6 bottles and sold out within a half hour.

 

Looking to get a hand on a bottle of Coffee. I sold off my entire allotment to customers instead of grabbing any myself, and now I'm in need! Any leads would be fantastic.

 

I shop the Westside in east St. Cloud very regularly and I was told by them that they (Westside, both locations that is) would be the only ones in town to get BCBS. This was confirmed by the manager at one of the Coburns and an employee at 99 bottles in Sartell. The manager at Cashwise seemed to have no idea what BCBS was. If people find out different I would love to know.