Wine World NJ

I am fine with the practice of setting aside bottles for frequent and loyal customers. Folks who miss out on a beer tend to get irritated about it, but it is what it is. I have one shop in particular where limited bottles get held for me from time to time and I greatly appreciate it. They also limit their bottles to 1 per on the rarer beers to try and make it fair to everyone. No problems at all with that.

As far as Wine World in EB is concerned, they have been good to me in the past and I can't say that I'm someone who is there frequently. I stop in from time to time and tend to buy a lot in bursts but I am not there every week. That said, a couple of years back I stopped in and was looking for a limited beer - I do not recall the gentleman's name but he had one set aside for himself and told me to come by the next time he was in and he'd have it for me if I showed up. Sure enough, I went into the store a couple of days later and the bottle was there next to him at the cash wrap. He didn't know me extremely well but did me a solid.

I have also interacted with other employees there and they have always been extremely helpful and have even gone into the back if I asked about a particular beer and brought it out to me. The store has a great craft beer selection and IMO the customer service has always been great.

Bottom line is that not everyone is always going to be on the same page and some folks will feel slighted and maybe they truly feel that they were done an injustice. I think it's important to call things like they are so in my case, I have had nothing but positive experiences in this store over the years. I also give kudos to Dan for coming into the thread and responding with a professional and articulate response to someone who was attempting to disparage his store.

 

FWIW I've had good experiences at Wine World, they are probably my third or fourth most frequented beer store after Wine Library, Joe Canals in Iselin and Marketplace. I will likely be moving Wine World up since Marketplace seems to have taken a turn since they moved and rebranded.

And as far as your relative not getting the beer that they were looking for perhaps they should have called ahead to ask for a favor. In the craft beer community demand far outstrips supply. I think that we have all been in a situation where we wanted a beer and weren't able to get it because it sold out. Expecting to just show up and get something rare from a tiny brewery is plain foolish. You can split hairs all you like about whether someone should have said that all of the available Lunch has been allocated vs. saying that they didn't have any. I don't think it's an argument worth having. Bottom line, be friendly with people and they may do nice things for you. Call ahead and you might be able to get something set aside. Complain on BA about the fact that nice and conscientious people get better treatment . . . and you embarrass yourself.

 

It's that entitlement mentality that is a problem with this "hobby". So someone goes to a store all the time that makes him better than anyone else? Last I looked these liquor stores are public retail establishments. Anyone could be a regular at a store but go at night. After the store managers and beer managers are long gone. So you wouldn't be known to them. Does that make you less of a customer than someone that shops there earlier?

Either you have the beer or you don't. Don't play games with any customer.

 

Bottom line they had 12 bottles - and a ton of folks who wanted one. That's a lot more folks left crying and complaining than those happy they got one. Wine world is the best bottle shop in central jersey - That is all.

 

lol I will agree to disagree on that comment 100% lol

 

It's just beer at the end of the day guys. It's not like they're withholding life saving prescription medication from you to save for a different customer.

 

Why would you boycott Wine World when it's one of the best bottle shops around? It's much tidier than Joe Canals and (the former) Marketplace (haven't been in the new one yet). Though they do have some ancient bottles lying around they always get new stuff in before a lot of other stores nearby.

 

I've defended this place as a great beer store for a while, even when this thread came out. But I'm done with this place after tonight...first off, I'm fine with them holding rare releases for their regular customers. That being said, I've been in there at least once a week since February asking for kbs and parabola. They said they had no idea when they were getting parabola in...I go in there tonight to see if I'd get lucky and score a parabola. The girl behind the counter said they have it in stock...Yahtzee! She sends me back to talk to this kid who works there. That kid proceeds to tell me that they got it 4 weeks ago, and it's long gone. I tell him that the girl up front said its still in stock, and that I've been in here asking for it for weeks. he proceeds to start nervously looking at wine bottles and lying right to my face that it's come and gone. All he had to tell me is that they have some reserved, and I'd be fine....that kid just cost them a lot of business from me, and others should follow suit since this is how you can expect to get treated.

 

A store like that likely has a huge beer club list to send emails to, and when a whale like Parabola comes in in a case of 6 it's not too practical to tell probably 50+ people about 6 bottles.

 

But that is the fundamental issue. They need to have a system and stick to it to avoid losing customers. If you are going to send out and email then do first come first serve, then do it and stick to it. If you are going to hold beers for regulars/employees, that is fine, but be clear about it. The issue that almost everyone seems to be having here is the lying. Why lie? Just be honest and tell us that the bottles are being held, yeah that sucks but at least there will be consistency.

 

You right. Huddle up the help and give them a game plan.

 

Yeah SpaceEurope, how about if their business model is just to lie to their customers faces like we are ******ed, hire better liars.

 

If they lied and said it had never come in you'd believe them just as much as if they told you it came in and had already been sold or spoken for. I can take being lied to about something like Parabola or Lunch (or any beer for that matter) because at the end of the day the bottle would be empty and worthless if I did get my hands on it.

And take that R-word out of your vocabulary you child.

 

Sorry to offend your delicate sensibilities

 

It's certainly frustrating when a store selectively decides to whom it will communicate news about certain shipments, deliveries or availabilities. Of course, the easy response is to say "vote with your wallet" and shop somewhere else. That doesn't make it any less sucky, though.

While a business is certainly within its right to conduct itself in the manner it sees fit (within the confines of the law, of course), I've always appreciated those that utilize lotteries. I was recently at a bar that gave one ticket to each person. At a certain time they had 4 bottles of Parabola, another of Sucaba and something else (can't remember what it was). If your number was called, you had the option to buy a bottle. It was fair and equitable, and as disappointed as I was that my number was one away from one of those called, I at least felt like I had a fair shake.

If you're a business, you're going to go a lot further with your customers if they feel like they had a fair chance. That way if they don't luck out, well, at least they lost out fairly.

I wish more places operated this way. I've not been burned per se by a store, but because of my job and commuting, anytime one of my local places gets something rare it's gone by the time I get there after work... usually because they put it on sale at 1 in the afternoon (whole other discussion).

 

Wine World is the best of the three in east Brunswick and Dan and his guys are great. They've never held bottles for me because I've never asked but I don't have a problem with them doing it for regulars. If you are a frequent customer do your homework or get on their email list and call if you don't think you will make it in time. If you are not a regular then you best get over there at delivery time. Or wait until next time. There is plenty of good beer out there. Or you can go on this forum and whine about it.

As for marketplace- great selection and staff but I've found them a bit overpriced in comparison (.50 to $1 on many items) and last I checked they were not doing njcraftbeer discounts (though that was years ago I haven't been in a while). That adds up. And buy-rite? They have great pricing on some things but then they jack prices on others to well above market, like KBS and enjoy by,- they use scarcity to their advantage and it turned me off so I only go there in a pinch.

 

I have no bias at all. Buy wherever you like. I just happen to prefer shopping there for the reasons stated. As far as how they do things, I get why you may disagree with their policy and think a lottery is the most fair system to all customers. I happen to agree it would be the most fair system but I also understand their business reasons for wanting to take care of their regulars. And I don't see any inconsistent treatment of regulars in your case. The treatment would be inconsistent only if they reserved for some their regulars and not for others when asked. Oh and I believe Buy Rite did something similar a while back--they allowed people to reserve if they were a bottle club member or something. Again, their business judgment and it risks the ire of people that disagree with it.