What's going on with Craft Beer Cellar?

Oh shoot! I really hope the Sedalia MO shop stays open. It's an essential stop when I visit my mom in the vast beer wasteland of Central MO.

 

Crazy/greedy/ignorant owners who don't care about anything but getting paid that franchise fee.

 

In general, if you're going broke selling booze, you're doing something really really wrong. With a decent location and some reasonably competent management it hardly seems like a doomed business model (although the value of being a CBC franchisee seems minimal to me).

 

Beer is notoriously low margin. Running a store based solely on beer is incredibly hard to turn a profit. They are also typically lower volume spaces, which makes small issues much larger

 

CBC Roslindale posted on Facebook they are closing. All inventory 25% off beginning on Tuesday.

 

I live right down the road from CBC Rozzie and this one stings. Bryan is such a good dude. The second i saw the post I went down and stocked up my cellar .

Super bummed

 

Couldn't agree more. I was a frequent customer when I lived in Roslindale and Bryan was always good to me. I always questioned whether the location was sustainable, and wonder how much the Trillium Garden at the Substation might have contributed to its early success. Either way, it's too bad to see it go.

 

I think it's a huge combination of things. I think his entrance being hidden from the street and and a lack of close parking really killed any chance of being super high volume. I also think the substation being empty for a full year before trillium came in hurt him too.

I know initial location choices can be a bear. I worked in the Newton CBC and that wasn't sustainable either. I'm glad Brian moved to Newtonville

 

I bet more are coming.....

 

The thing I've noticed about the Newtonville store is that, especially for a CBC, they don't seem to stock a ton of expensive bottles. My pet theory on this is that they're stocking the store in such a way that it tends to push people towards doing the mixed-singles thing, which adds (I'm pretty sure?) a bit of margin to the beers. And possibly encourages people to spend more, because somehow four five dollar cans kinda sneaks under people's radar in the way a single $20 bottle doesn't.

 

It makes sense but even still moving from sixers to singles helps but isn't profitable on it's own. My guess is that office/keg accounts are what pay the bills more than walk in.


Five years of regulars and repeat customers can't hurt either.

 

Basically boils down to this. You need to sell a LOT of beer to stay in business if thats all youre going to do. Most stores have wine/liquor/gourmetfoods/etc to help along.

Not to mention that every corner packie has a halfway decent craft beer selection these days. Competition is fierce.

 

CBC was a legit franchise 10 years ago in the high-yield bomber/750 ml era & when New England was underserved with breweries.

Times have changed & their model is no longer sustainable since margins have been squeezed (a win for consumers).

Frankly I buy most of my beer nowadays @ big box stores & have zero use for beer boutiques. Never cared for the CBC know-it-alls giving me “advice” either, it added nothing to my shopping experience.

 

I still shop at and enjoy the Belmont store but otherwise think you're spot on. I have a friend who once seriously looked into opening a franchised spice shop (a bit like Penzy's but better). If every grocery store started offering bulk, high end, exotic spices I don't see how that wouldn't spell the end for that chain, and that's basically where beer is now.

There's always going to be room for well placed boutique versions of even widely available things, but I'd guess they're going to have to be fairly few and far between to maintain any degree of cache.

 

This is exactly it. I used to go to CBC for the crazy selections. Now there are 7 stores within a couple miles with great selections. Even the tiny convenience stores now carry some really good stuff.

However, there are a couple things about CBC (at least Newtonville) that keep me coming back periodically.
1) They get a lot of unique out of market beers that just do not pop up other places around me.
2) I can trust the freshness of hoppy beer in that store like no others around me.

To me, seems like they over-expanded. There is probably enough volume for a few CBCs in the Boston area, but not one in every damn neighborhood.