Liquor Store Pet Peeves

There are a few things that I cannot stand and will usually cause me to not buy from a store.

The first and worse is stores selling special releases on eBay. I have gone to stores, asked about a special release, they say they have it but then hint at the prices they can get on ebay for it instead. I have even had a store directly say "I have some, but do you know how much I can get on eBay for it, like $50 (this was Abyss a few years ago)", then he had the balls to ask how much I would be willing to pay for it. I said no where near that price and went ahead and put all the other beers I had in my hand back on the shelves and left empty handed.

Another thing are beers for sale from out of the area. I know of some store owners/beer managers who trade for beer and will sell it to friends at cost, I am fine with that. However, I also know of stores that trade/have beer sent that then mark the beer up insanely high. Who knows what the condition of the beer is in, these beers are usually outrageously marked up, and they will sit on shelves for a long time due to no one knowing about them and having a high price. Lastly and most importantly, these places are completely stupid in a business sense. These places are risking their liquor license off of selling a few extra beers. An example is a place near me that has Zombie Dust, for $10 a bottle...sitting on the shelves closest to the large windows with no refrigeration. Without bottle dates from FFF, who knows how old these bottles are.

Lastly, I cannot stand walking into a store and seeing all of the IPAs sitting on shelves and not in coolers. I will not buy hoppy beers from these places, as I know they either don't care or don't know how to treat certain beers. It also baffles me when I see this, but then see things like IRS, Quads, and BW in the cooler. I understand stores have limited cooler space, but when push comes to shove Stone IRS should not go in the cooler while Stone Ruination is on the shelf.

 

Keeping beer "in the back" pisses me off and I'll never understand it. If you only have a limited supply, well, just have a bottle limit. The Whole Foods near me now has a chalk board listing what they have in the back. WHY? Just put it on the shelf so I don't have to wait 10 min for the beer person.

 

I was in one of the ABC stores in Orlando and the same thing happened to me. I was on vacation and figured id score some Cigar City while I was down there. Went up to the cashier, asked and said he had some stuff in stock. I look at the shelf where he told me to go with no luck. He then comes over and cant find anything either. Needless to say I walked away without anything from Cigar City.

 

Stores with bad reservation systems. If you are going to start a list for popular beers that come out in limited supply everyone who works there must know about. Too many times has my name been on a list and when I went to pick it up or see if it arrived it was either mistakenly put out on the floor for sale, multiple lists for the same beer were started or lost all together. The point of having your name down is to reward customer loyalty. At grocery stores like whole foods I agree with the legalbrew87 there should not be any beer in the back.

I was recently at a store that only kept limited supply beers in the back and did not even advertise them on a board. I feel this is the way to go because the owners would only offer the beer if you asked about it or if they knew you might be interested. This system rewards both loyal customers along with beer enthusiasts alike

 

I visited an ABC not far from Full Sail and found the Jai Alai i was looking for on an end shelf about 2 inches from the floor. I assumed that beer would've been displayed more prominently

 

You have to wait 10 minutes because some people will grab as many bottles as possible, even with a limit, and then make a scene when they can't buy them all. Yell and scream like children. It's easier to just keep it in the back and bring out only the limit. Basically it comes down to too many people feeling entitled and not respecting that others want " THE beer" as well. Don't blame the stores, they are trying to be fair. Blame that guy that hoards "The beer" and will yell and scream to do it.

 

Mine's a simple one but drives me crazy! There is a store in town that boasts a stock of "15,000 Craft Beers" and wants to be considered the best place in town to get good beer. First, the selection is not that good... they have like 3 coolers of good beer, a wall of swill (bud, coors, etc) and the rest is warm and on shelves. When I brought this up, I was told that they can order 1,500 beers and anything I wanted they could get. I've ordered things 3 times and each time after a week, they told me they couldn't get it. The worst part is the staff don't know ANYTHING about beer! One dumb clerk girl may have actually said, "Oh, I'm not really a 'beer' person..." That's my pet peeve! Why would the beer store hire someone who is "not really a 'beer' person?" GO WORK AT STARBUCKS!

 

Not to mention the ridiculous liquor tax that Allegheny County imposes.

 

Big pet peeve for me is liquor stores that dont sell singles. I store i frequent has a great selection of 4-6 packs, bombers, and imports, but they wont sell singles. Really makes me upset when I find something I want to try, but aren't willing to fork out the money for a 6er

 

Outdated(old) beers, and not enough world-class, most highly rated brews.

 

The only thing that will keep me from shopping at a store is if they are not honest with me. If I am not as regular as someone else, just tell me. I'm a big boy, I'll be ok if you don't sell me your beer. But if you lie to me about it, you will never see me again.

 

I have a similar story about a un-named bar in West Haven CT that sometimes when i order a beer and they ask me which one that is and they only have 10 lines, and theyre give you the wrong pours, like a DFH 120 in a pint mason jar, now im not complaining about the pour but the owner is losing out on money and they dont know what theyre pouring. I guess thats what happens when you hire friends...CHEERS

 

Place near me wouldn't let me use the restroom even though I frequently go there.

I was at a bar for a few brews with a buddy and then I was heading to a party. En route to the party I felt a strong urge to take a leak. Needing to grab a sixer I figured that I'd just use the restroom at the liquor store. While browsing the selection the urge to go was increasing with a great deal of intensity. I picked my beer. I waited in line. I purchased my beer and when the transaction was over I said, "do you guys have a bathroom I could use?" and the answer was a straight forward "No." It was delivered in a way and in a tone that I knew if I came back with the sarcastic, "oh so you guys don't ever go to the bathroom at work?" or "you guys just piss in empty kegs" type lines it would have gone nowehre.

It wasn't a biggie, because I pissed in the back of the building, which I think should be standard operating procedure if people are denied access to a bathroom inside a place that obviously has a bathroom. Nevertheless, it rubbed me the wrong way.

 

I hate it when the Russian girl who works the front register won't give me her number. She says real men drink vodka. I don't like vodka.

 

I'm speaking as a consumer of course but as an owner the approach would simply be: which way moves more product?

 

haha ok you clean up drunks piss and puke nightly. i understand you are saying you frequent this store, but at my store we most certainly do not make our bathroom public. no one wants to clean up other peoples arrant piss. especially drunk peoples

 

I visit about 6 stores thru out Greater Victoria , know 4 of the manager/buyer's , and are on the email list of all , (incase of any special order's or updates I require) what "grinds my geers" are #1 the price point of certain beers I like/love ($18 for a 6pack of Deschutes Black Butte Porter-or-Obsidian Stout , great beer but steep price) and #2 the display's of Coor's Light , Bud , Corona that take up too much space , #3 out of date website's

 

My total wine rant.... In the store tonight there were 5 brands of crappy pumpkin beer,stacked all over the place @$ 3.99 a sixer. Taking up valuable space that could be used for really much better products.

 

I hate when a store has a nice sized room/area dedicated to beer, but it's brimming with all the common adjuncts and foofoo flavored maltcoolers.

 

This happened to me with BD Tokyo*