In order to have space for the "new" beers that means that some other brands are not there, correct? Do you ever experience 'push back' from customers along the lines of: "I bought brand x last time I was here and I now I don't see it on your wall. What's up with that? I liked brand x and wanted to buy it again. Cheers!
I agree with you on the rotation piece. When a shop is actively bringing in new product and moving through it at a steady pace, the experience is completely different. You can feel it when the wall is being managed versus when it is just being maintained. At the same time, I have come to see that not every store is really set up to do that consistently. The level of rotation you are talking about takes time, attention, and a willingness to deal with the risk of slower moving product. Some stores lean into that, others prioritize stability because it is easier to manage day to day. That is where I think it ties back to the type of store. A beer focused shop is more likely to put in that effort because it is central to what they are trying to be. A general liquor store may not, even if they carry a decent selection, because beer is only one part of their overall business. So I do agree it is a buyer and store level issue, but I also think it is tied to how the store defines itself. The places that treat beer as a primary category tend to rotate and keep things fresh. The ones that do not, you start to see exactly what you described.
Giovanni, what are your thoughts about the question I posed above: "Do you ever experience 'push back' from customers along the lines of: "I bought brand x last time I was here and I now I don't see it on your wall. What's up with that? I liked brand x and wanted to buy it again." Cheers!
Not so much, so far. The people that buy the same beers consistently are contributing to those beers being good sellers, and those usually keep a permanent spot on the wall (especially if they're local beers). Anything that moves a little slower, I will rotate in something else from the same brewery, or another brewery altogether. Generally I'm happy to bring a beer back if it's not on the wall currently, but tbh, 9/10 when a regular customer comes in saying they had something they really liked off the beer wall and they can't find it, they can't even remember brewery or beer name or sometimes even what style it was, and/or they had it 5 years ago and can't remember any details either. Or they got it at another store altogether.
That definitely happens, and I think it is one of the natural tensions with a rotation driven approach. From what I have seen, there are really two types of customers in that situation. One is looking for consistency and expects to be able to come back to the same product. The other is more open to discovery and understands that what is on the wall is going to change. When you lean into rotation, you are making a choice to favor freshness and variety, but that does come with some level of push back from the first group. I have seen similar behavior outside of beer as well. Years ago I worked at an Italian trattoria where we did not carry Dr Pepper. At one point we brought it in after being asked for it, and once it was there, it barely moved at all. It was something people said they wanted in the moment, but it did not translate into consistent demand. Beer can be similar. A customer may remember a specific brand from a prior visit, but that does not always justify holding that SKU if it slows down overall turnover or takes space from something fresher. The way I have seen it handled best is through communication and substitution. If someone asks for something that is no longer there, it becomes an opportunity to guide them toward something comparable that is fresh and currently moving well. Over time, that tends to shift expectations a bit, especially in places where customers understand that the selection is meant to change. So I do think the push back is real, but it is also part of the tradeoff. If the goal is to keep product fresh and the wall active, some level of inconsistency is built into that model.
100 percent my experience at my store lol Customers always push us to bring new product in, and then when we do, it doesn't move at all. I tend to listen only if I get a sense that the customer is like, a nerd about the product and knows what they're talking about.
Ive been beating this drum for a while. The only solution to old beer on the shelves is less beer on the shelves. 1000 beer brands, but almost none of them fresh, isn't really a lot of options. A smaller beer section isn't a loss as long as it's actively being managed. A smaller beer section means less beers I have to put back because they are old, its a better experience, in my experience.
I laughed out loud when I read that! I suppose that we BAs are differing crowd? I remember the brands I like and I am bummed out when I return to a beer retailer and they no longer carry the beer(s) I like. Cheers!
I feel similarly. I'm in and out of liquor stores these days. I used to check stuff out, but it's not worth the time any more. Here's a rough estimate of how the offerings breakdown: 30% Macros 25%- Hazy IPAs 15%- Mediocre craft lagers 10%- Pastry stouts 10%- Seltzers 5%- Ciders 4%- Imports that are as old as dirt 1%- The stuff I buy
That is one way to manage things I suppose. Permit me to tell a recent story. I visited a well known bottle shop near me and I was looking for a specific brand. I usually like to 'window shop' there but that day I was in a hurry to get other stuff done. I asked the guy (I never saw him at that store before): I am looking for brand x. He gave me a weird look (I knew right away he did not know what I was talking about). After a long pause he mentioned: maybe it is in that beer refrigerator there (and he pointed). Well, it turned out it was a good guess. If that brand was not available, I would not have asked this particular individual for alternative suggestions. For completeness there are more often than not knowledgeable people at this retailer but not that day. Oh well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Cheers!
That is a fair point, and I think your example highlights another variable that can override the process entirely, which is the person on the floor at that moment. Even in a well run shop with good rotation and strong buying, the customer experience can break down if the person they interact with does not have the familiarity or confidence to guide them. In that situation, even a simple substitution becomes difficult, and the whole model starts to feel inconsistent from the customer side. From what I have seen, that tends to come down to how the staff is trained and how they view their role. Some people are there to do the job and keep things moving, others take an interest in the product and the experience they are helping create. Both exist in the same space, and it is not always realistic to expect every interaction to be at the same level. I have been in settings where this was addressed more directly. When working alongside brewers and taproom teams, it was made clear that there is a spectrum in how people approach the industry. Some treat it as a job, others choose to engage more deeply with the product and the customer. Neither is forced, but the difference shows up quickly in situations like the one you described. So while I still think communication and substitution are effective approaches, they depend heavily on having someone in front of the customer who is able and willing to do that. Without that piece, even a strong retail model can feel hit or miss depending on who is on the floor.
I think there is a lot of truth to that from a freshness standpoint. A smaller, actively managed set will usually outperform a larger wall that is not turning over. Where I see the difference is whether that smaller selection is intentional. A beer focused shop can lean into that and make rotation part of the experience. In a broader liquor store, there is often more pressure to carry a wider range, even if some of it sits longer. So I agree a smaller section can be better, but it really comes down to how it is managed and what the store is trying to be.
That lines up with what I have seen as well. There is a difference between what people say they want in the moment and what actually moves once it is on the shelf. I think your approach makes sense. Not every request carries the same weight, and over time you start to get a feel for which customers are giving you useful signal versus just reacting to something they had once. That seems to be part of the balancing act. Listening enough to stay responsive, but not over correcting based on demand that does not hold.
Absolutely. I think we got spoiled during the boom years and forgot that people as nerdy as we are about beer should expect to patronize specialty stores to actually get what we want all the time.\ It's not actually reasonable to expect that your super specialized beverage desires will be fully met at your local chain grocery store. It has been great that that worked out for a while, but it was an aberration driven by a fad. Same way you wouldn't expect to satisfy your obsession with exotic fruits or obscure heritage grain products at your basic grocery store. We are, definitionally, specialty product consumers.
I think that is a fair way to look at it. The boom years definitely blurred the line between general retail and specialty, and it created expectations that are not always realistic now. Where it connects for me is that it reinforces the difference between store types. If you are looking for a more specific or constantly rotating selection, that tends to live in places that are built around beer as a primary category. In a general retail setting, it is harder to support that level of depth consistently. I also think it is worth recognizing that we are, at the end of the day, specialty product consumers. That does not always translate to the broader market, and it does not necessarily mean every retail environment is going to meet those expectations. That part can be debated, but that is how I tend to look at it. So I agree, a lot of it comes down to understanding what kind of store you are walking into and adjusting expectations from there.
Another issue beyond brand X vs. brand Y = Brand X who makes 500 SKUs that permanently alternate. Locally, Weldwerks comes to mind. They literally have hundreds of different beers, but outside of Juicy Bits the longest you'll see any of them is a few weeks out of the year. It can't be fun having to explain to people that the pineapple sour they loved last week won't be back for a year. But hey, it got replaced by a quintuple-dry hopped Bits using riwaka and strata...whatever that means.
Most of our local vendors rotate beers in/out depending on the season and ingredient availability. Some of my favorite West Kill Brewing beers are not brewed year-round, unfortunately, or even very consistently. I wish I could drink their Czech-style pilsner all year round. Same with Arrowood Farms, their Spring-Fed Kolsch and Cicada Corn Lager only come out during the warmer months. Grimm is an interesting example of this, and kind of a nightmare from a buyers' perspective. I have some of their UPCs in the system that are tied to 6-8 different rotating beers. Same with Other Half. Although I love rotating their beers in and getting to present/try new offerings at such a fast clip, it's definitely difficult to navigate from a practical standpoint. Customers have not said one way or the other on this specific issue, so far, but I do get a lot of compliments on the beer wall and my selection when I'm out on the floor.
In many places, the specialty craft stores have disappeared or morphed into more generic type of store like all the others in an area. Are there a lot less craft beer nerd/hobbyists today than say 2016 that don’t warrant a specialty store in a town/city? Same could be said for the craft beer bars as well, which has been discussed on different threads.
Agreed that when I was younger, I didn’t think a lot about beer taste, and getting soused was really the goal,
