Should Bottle Shops Allow Holds?

Vote with your dollar. If you find the practice dubious, don't spend your money there. I don't mind it myself, but I really could care less about chasing beers anymore.

 

Im right there w you man. It makes it more difficult to catch something while its at the store that way.

 

It comes down to the same thing as the walez argument - there's no way to make everyone happy all the time. Stores do this with limited releases, when they get very small allotments. Either someone knows when releases will be, the store tweets / facebooks/INstagrams the release, or they save it for special customers. IN any case they have to ask for the beer.
This also does allow them to regulate limits - one, or 2, or a pack or whatever per person. If it was on the shelves, someone would go ahead and try to buy the lot of it, and chances are, in a store of any size, there will be one cashier who doesn't pay attention and allows it, shutting everyone out.
I'm OK with having limited release available by asking. It comes to knowing when a beer will be released, and looking for it. If you are a regular at a place, get to know some of the salesfolks, and they'll let you know if something good comes in.

 

I work in the industry and I know that stores will hold special releases for certain customers. I've heard it straight from the employees or the store owners as well. I've also seen it when special releases are sitting in backrooms, under the front counter or in coolers where beer is stored. I don't think its fair but its a business and they will please their best customers.

 

Put it on the shelf and set a limit. I don't frequent stores that do anything else.

 

Not a big fan of the practice, but I get why it is done. The right way would be to write what is available on a board for all to see, with "ask an employee if interested" on there.
I kind of laugh to myself when this practice sometimes backfires and it ends up on the shelf with no limits.

 

If you gave that knowledge to your employees then you fire those people.

If you didn't, you suck at your job and I also wouldn't go back.

Also if there is a sign that says "1 per person" or whatever and someone goes to the register with more than that they are an asshole. If it were my store those people would get none. I know a store that has done that.

 

This is the case around here when it comes to grimm ipas.. Usually supermarkets keep the case they receive in the back and send out notifications on Instagram or beermenus.. And if they don't keep it in the back some guy will come and buy them all and will never be back till they get more grimm.. I prefer it when the shops cater to the locals who support them so I do appreciate them setting limits amd taking care of their regulars.. I remember walking into a food emporium and a guy tried to buy 2 entire cases of bourbon county coffee that were on the sales floor but the beer manager was diligent and only sold him one bottle

 

I see nothing wrong with this and actually appreciate being taken care of in this manner by a local store. As a result I try to be a loyal customer and buy as much other product as I can.If one is a true fan of "craft" beer one knows when certain limited releases are coming out and should contact their local store in advance.

 

Mostly I don't care whether a store does this or not. Their store, their deal.

The small part of me that doesn't like it doesn't like it because the only store I know for sure that does this sucks compared to all my other beer-buying options. This particular store often sells beer way past best-by dates, and the employees tend to give off a weird vibe ... shopping there always feels like sitting at a poker table with dead-eyed or indoor-sunglass-wearing stone faces hiding something from you and obviously never telling the truth.

That's anecdotal, so it's hard to have a firm opinion of the practice based on so little. Something about the practice feels off to me (if you only cater to loyalists, how do you build a bigger clientele? and as an outsider, what's my incentive to shop there where all the insiders get the good stuff?), but I'm sure I'd love it if I had a good "in" with a good beer store.

 

I was jealous back in the day of wealthy/better connected friends who got the treatment described and always had great bottles put away for them by beer stores anxious to keep them happy. Now I see things from the angle of being active in the beer community around here for many years and becoming good friends with the beverage store guys where I shop and getting the preferred customer treatment for myself. Is either thing fair? Moot question, because the only consideration is if it makes more profit for the store.

 

This used to annoy me. No longer does it because I've built somewhat decent relationships with the beer people and I've matured and just don't care as much as I used to.

I frequent 2-3 stores on a regular enough basis that when things get held back I'm made aware without asking. Do they automatically hold stuff for me? No. Do they tell me when it comes in? Yes, and that's awesome.

It's easy to feel entitled, especially when you spend a lot of money somewhere. To be completely honest though, it's not that hard to build a relationship with the beer guy. You both have a passion for the same thing. Pretty easy ice breaker right there.

Yes it feels annoying constantly asking what they have in the back. And I think it would get old very quickly if I worked at a beer store and frequently had people coming in asking broadly about what's in the back, opposed to asking about specific beers being released currently. I am on the distribution email list for a store I don't even go to, but it gives me a good sense of what's being distributed in the area and when. This way when I am asking if a specific beer is available I am asking a somewhat educated question about a specific beer dropping in the area at a specific time, opposed to just saying "hey what's in the back today."

Also FOMO

 

Three local stores know me, will hold things, and even request things for me, but don't seem to stash. Another store stashes a fair bit of BA stout like Abyss variants, BCBS, KBS, CBS, etc. A few months ago I dropped by when they had just put out a case each of both of the Abyss 2016 variants which I had missed out on. They are moving soon, so have been clearing out their stash a bit. Three local taprooms do this with kegs - serving CBS, KBS, BCBS and others 6-36 months later. One is getting a keg of 2014 BCBS.

I have no problem with this since it's a blast-from-the-past finding these pre-aged gems when you figure they're long gone.

 

Definitely two sides to the coin. I can see why people would have issue with it, and i can also see why establishments do it. If I were the owner of a beer store, I would rather take care of my regulars who are loyal to me. And if you are a regular and they know you, it would be a nice perk. Maybe a way to keep it fair, i would post it on my social media pages so those who pay attention to whats going on in my business know when the good stuff is available.

 

A few stores I've seen that used to do this (long before I was ever shopping in liquor stores) switched to putting security caps on their limited releases so they can keep the "good stuff" on the shelves where everyone can see it, and if it's something special they simply hang a bright orange or pink tag from the shelf with the purchase limit. From what I hear, a lot more shoppers end up becomming fans of more breweries too because they find more things on the shelves, which imo is awesome for everyone when that happens.

The only store I've been to that held beer and whiskey in the back were, at the time, the type that held cases of stuff like BCBS and WhistlePig The Boss Hog for months and months for them and their buddies or even out-of-town collectors to buy up. Long story short: I don't shop there.

If something is honestly difficult to get or seriously limited, then I'm fine if the employees and connected few buy it all and I never see it until it hits social media, in that case there's more to it than "we know people, you don't". But, I'll respect them a lot more if they make a point to have their employees tell others what's new, what's coming in and what's running out, on the shelves and otherwise.

 

Well said. I do not mind it one bit that the best customers (I'm not one, BTW) get preferential treatment, no more than I mind it when casinos comp their high rollers or the airlines comp their frequent flyers. Rewarding loyalty is simply a good business practice.

 

I can tell you from conversations with owners and managers that they don't look forward to cult releases. They get hundreds of calls, folks stopping in and asking, etc - even after it is long gone everywhere, and most of those customers are not regulars. And folks complain about how they are doled out. I had a store manager offer me as much BCBS as I wanted, just to be done with it sooner. Some stores may stash just to be able to minimize the hassle, then they can slip them to true regulars.