Hopslam cans in Philly

This thread is a good example of the price gouging that's going on with beer.

I understand the difference between buying a loaf of bread from a grocery store versus a convenience store or deli (thus The Foodery's mark-up... I still can't fathom asking for $37 @ VIP - who's paying that?), but between similar venues it should basically be the same, right? Everyone is paying the same price coming from the Initial Distributor, so it just comes down to their mark-up.

And this might be the case of a "rare" beer where I can see that going on (although I can't support that), but I see it with regular beers as well. It might seem like a small amount, but it all adds up. With that said, I've stopped going to the smaller shops completely, and mostly go to Wegmans or Weis or Giant. Why should I pay more at Whole Foods?

Worst of all, the price discrepancies between actual beer distributors boggles my mind. A couple of dollars difference, maybe, but I've seen similar cases at $5 to $10 more between distributors not that far away from each other.

Conclusion: we're all to blame for paying the higher prices. Cheers to those who don't, but I don't think it'll make any difference in the current market.

 

Have you found beer at whole foods to be consistently more expensive than at wegmans? I know everything else is pricier at whole foods, but I thought beer was priced about the same.

 

Outside of Philly, but not that far, Total Wine in Claymont has cases of it. 24.99, one 6-pack per customer.

 

The Loft had it a couple days ago at $5 a can. The Beer Store Southampton put in on sale this morning; 2 can limits at both.

 

When the Whole Foods opened in Plymouth Meeting their prices were lower. It was readily obvious in comparison to the specialty shops or the Foodery. I did a price comparison between them and a few other stores - keep in mind, this was before Weis and Giant also had beer so it was just Wegmans and the specialty shops - and Whole Foods did really well. Not long ago their price went up. I haven't done a price comparison lately, but I can see it without actually putting numbers side by side.

Another thing to note is that Whole Foods doesn't do a mix& match 6-pk any more, and when they did the selection was very limited and not kept cold.

As another aside, we'll soon see all of this going on at beer distributors. Javie's by me in Manayunk is already selling single large format bottles and 4-pks & 6-pks.

 

C.J.'s Doghouse in Lansdale had it, as of last night, for $25/6.

 

Finished the last of my 12-pack of Hopslam last night. Really enjoyed it and will buy it again, but I wouldn't wait in lines for it :-)