Should a Bottle Shop Post All New Arrivals?

The people who were berating you for not posting are just a lazy evolution of truck chasers. I'm not on Facebook, but I'll search up pages for stores to see their releases. My best luck usually doesn't come from those kinds of stores, it comes from places people didn't know about. They should consider your store a hidden gem for great beers and be a regular.

 

The thing about using Facebook and social media is that not all your good customers will be using it. (This is the only site I regularly visit that could be considered part of social media and the very thought of facebook and twitter conjure up all kinds of security and data control problems.) I average about 5-6 bottles a week and look to try at leas one new one every week, during normal times. The nearest bottle shop to me has a well curated but a bit expensive selection with no discount on mixed 6ers, so most of my new beers come from there and most of the folks remember having seen me there before when I come in and look at the new stuff, etc. However, most all of my regular rotation comes from a couple of other places where I can buy a 4 or 6 pack, etc. with out all those extra handling costs built in.

The beer manager at the bottle shop, when I see him, usually likes to show me a few of the new offerings and make suggestions.

So I'd guess that something like a mixed model might serve well in the sense of a limited quantity via Facebook and some held in reserve for the in store customer you know may be interested. Seems like a way to attract a few new faces and to look out for the folks who are regulars in your shop. I doubt you'd be unable to sell your instore reserve and think they would go on facebook later on as well.

 

While the best thing for the business is to sell out of everything that you buy and rotate stock quickly, it is definitely important to honor your repeat/loyal high end customer base.

I like the idea of an "in the queue" page or sidebar on a bottle shop's website, FB page, or social media feed, but I also think that super limited releases that you know will sell out should be offered to your loyal customers first and maybe only. I don't own a bottle shop, but I know that I'd be irritated as fuck if random whale-chasers were showing up at my store just to buy a limited release beer and didn't come in unless I had it and if I didn't, they didn't buy anything else. Maybe it's just me, but I think those people are detestable.

 

Totally agree, we live in a new world and most younger folks rely on the net for info so that is a valid market stores should not ignore. I think the best approach is to advertise online but put a disclaimer note that hey supplies limited, etc. If I owned a store my goal would be to move my inventory as fast as possible while attracting a loyal customer base. Stores can set aside some gems for in store only and they should, why not cater to both worlds? If your a regular then the store can communicate with you hey next week XYZ is landing so stop by, etc. The market is brutal so as an owner my aim would be make sure I am viable as a business and that means using all forms of advertising to achieve success.
Cheers

 

Agree but I think you can do both. You know your loyal base and can cater to them and also use online media to attract more folks to come in. At the end of the day your running a business that supports your family so in my book more customers is a good thing. I think we need to iron out release items, whales are not that common and in this case are not going to come up every day, but if you can post new arrivals weekly that would bolster your business that is a win for you and the customer because your going to be around for years to come.

 

I always assumed they were "giving head" to the drivers for the inside scoop. Thanks for clarifying!

 

It’d be nice

 

If you mean being a guilt buyer - I am one too. Not at like a big chain place, but a small independent one definitely

 

I'll admit to being that guy a few times. If I'm calling to check, I'll usually apologize in advance before even asking, acknowledging that I'm probably the 153rd person calling to ask the same question. When Darkness was in it's heyday of being released and snatched up right away in Minneapolis (still weird stating it that way now), a few stores would just answer the phone that day without even saying "Hello", only "Yes we have it" or "Sorry, we're sold out". They didn't even have to say what it was they were referring to.

I'm sure every store has horror stories of dealing with a limited release and a flood of whale chasers. To this day, if I hit up a store on a limited release I will still tell them "Thank you for your service today" regardless if I get what I'm looking for or not for this very reason.

 

Yeah, exactly. When a local place I frequent doesn't have what I'm looking for, I still feel bad not buying anything. It's stupid.

 

The store owners should run his/her store as they feel is best for their store.

 

Yeah, I get this. The problem, though, is that sometimes you didn't intend to buy more beer that week (or month). So let's say you got your weekly...whatever you buy (usually a 4-pack for me, since I don't drink more than a beer a night, and usually only on weekends); why should you have to buy another beer just for walking in a shop? Checking in for a "special" release supersedes budget for a lot of people, but that doesn't mean you should pay the guilt tax because you got there too late.

Not saying there aren't a lot of people that are just scummy truck-chasers and flippers; just saying that if I came in 2 days ago to buy beer and am back just hoping to grab a bottle of Darkness, it sucks to feel like I'm an asshole if I walk out empty-handed.

 

You, sir, have won the thread.

 

Wait...Prop? Are you in Texas as indicated in your profile, or Chicago as implied by your user name (Hawks=Blackhawks)? Prop's Chicago area only AFAIK, so guessing it's the latter.

 

I used to live in Texas, but live in Chicago now

 

Whew! For a second there I thought I might have had a shot at Prop without trading. Time to update that info bruh.

 

That case of Natty Ice makes the store a profit. The lastest whale doesn't when you take into account the extra labor involved in dealing with it. All the time the store employees are forced to spend telling people a beer is sold out, both in person and on the phone, then stand there pertending to care while that person brags about their collection before leaving without buying anything is time the employee's could be spending doing tasks that actually make the store money.

My experience as a beer buyer for a retail store was that virtually none of the people who came in looking for whales bought anything else as they'd allocated their beer funds for the whale they were chasing. I'm sure a lot of them are nice people, but I could never consided them costumers, because weren't purchasing anything. You'd still have to treat them the same as anyone else who stepped into the store, but it always felt like such a waste of time.

I'd never advertised anything remotely rare, because I didn't want to add to the headache.

 

Guilty as charged.

However, when I do go up there for a special bottle/can, I usually round out a full six pack with some other, less special, beers that I want to try, so they get some extra money out of me and that way.

 

I post almost every new beer on our stores instagram, more rare things i dont (most recently some coffee edition BA dark stars), but even with these rare things I make sure atleast 1-3 bottles are on the shelf at any given time, nothing ever comes in where dont shelf atleast some of it. We accept holds for a super limited number of customers, usually friends and beer reps/industry people.

We give the average customer the opportunity to spot every single rare beer we get on the shelf