becoming a regular at new stores

3.
Law. defamation by oral utterance rather than by writing, pictures, etc.

OK...whatever.

 

Please don't take this the wrong way, but a $40 purchase by someone they've never seen before isn't likely to make much of an impression, at least the first time. That said, there's no excuse for bad service, so if you were treated poorly, then I'd either take my business elsewhere, or at least try to speak with a manager and explain you're new to the area, you're looking for a "home base" and then ask him/her if they're interested in you business.

One other thought -- it sounds like this is a relatively large store, which means the people at the checkouts are probably there to run the register, not to build customer base. If that's the case, then definitely try to build rapport with the people in the aisles. Those are the folks who know what they have in the back and whether or not they can go get it for you.

 

I used to think it was unfair that some prick got to buy the good beers from the back of the store and I never got a chance , didn't really piss me off , but I was not happy about it. Now that I'm the guy who is getting the KBS that will never see the shelf at the same liquor store I'm in complete understanding as to why they do it and can not for the life of me see why it would bother anyone , LoL..........It really does matter what side of the fence you are on..........The Peasants are Starving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Oh the horror of not being able to kiss the beer guy's ass and have to drink lowly shelf beer...

 

I know its not fair but beer distributors are the real cause of this problem.

 

What if someone comes in and asks "what kind of rare beer do you have in stock, on the shelves?" Do you obstruct their efforts to pay you for the product you sell then as well?

Some people don't have a ton of time to browse aisle upon aisle of beer, and are mostly interested in buying rare/limited releases. These are both legitimate reasons why a person would ask you directly what special beers you have on hand, and I don't see why you'd want to hurt your own business by trying to stop them from making a purchase.

 

I've been in the store the OP has posted about, and I agree with him. It's not a inviting place and to be honest, the workers suck. I'll even include the owner on this. I used to go in the store about once a week. Never talked or made a point to be overly social (maybe that's my fault). I inquired about bcbs cherry and coffee one day. I was told by the guy who said he was the owner, that he was not getting any. I walked out with my purchase. Few days pass and I saw that they had a lottery for the bottles as well as some backwoods bastard (which I also asked about).
Moral of the story is. Fuck them! I got my beer from places that like money.

 

Perhaps it doesn't translate well on the internet but the way the people in my post say it are actually just entitled, They don't care about product. I've adopted this after I dealt with this and watched the guy pound the bottle of Bolt Cutter in his truck in my parking lot.

Unfortunately this whole thing is a double edged sword.

 

You're not the first store owner I've heard to use that exact phrase, and I empathize to a degree. For example, I recognize that your allotment of limited beer is tied to your sales of a brewery's regular shelf beers—and whale chasers don't necessarily help with that end of the equation. On the other hand, every other beer store in your market faces the same exact issue and the exact same whale chasers. So it's not like this practice puts you at a competitive disadvantage.

As for the guy who pounded the Bolt Cutter, once he's bought the beer do you really care what he does with it? If so, why? Ideally everyone who comes into your store is as passionate about great beer as you are, and a beer advocate as well. But that's not the world we live in, so you can choose to let this bother you or not.

 

I was more bothered with the fact he literally pounded it, Two swigs and done and proceeded to put the empty next to his Beamer and drive off. I shed an Indian style tear right there!

As for allotments and that whole argument part, I don't actually hide away beer that's as limited as that as such. I keep it behind the counter with giant signs that say it's here, price, limit, and just ask. I don't lie or try to hide any release I get in because I feel that's quite the scummy. It's a business decision that I'm quite comfortable with.

As for the allotment being tied to shelf beers issue, I get what I can get but I can tell you now I don't get everything because of two simple reasons; It either comes in old all the freaking time so I never order tons of it (Stone) or in the area I am in, It simply does not move so it gets old and I'm forced to send it back/sell it at a discount etc.
I'm okay with not getting every release if it means I can at least do my part in not selling old beer to the unsuspecting public.

 

I completely agree w/ this practice. I basically shop only at stores that do this, or just put the rare stuff out on the shelves with everything else. It's the fairest way to do it.

 

I really wanted to follow through with the putting stuff on shelves method but there was one jabroni (BRINGING IT BACKKK) that tried to buy the entire case of Parabola off my shelf and proceeded to argue with me about why I should allow him such a privledge, literally his words, As he was a "huge fan" of Firestone Walker and "constantly shopped" at the store. Unfortunately for him I am literally the only employee and know a good 99% of my regular/almost regular/just random whale hunters by name and he was none of the above. So, To avoid this issue any more I just keep the case behind the counter by my feet (or in the fridge if it's a delicious IPA) with signs about the price, the limit, etc. Tweet/facebook it out and let it go from there. If you're interested in those kinds of releases, You know to use your eyes. If you're too lazy to do even that, I can't help you.

 

So, did you sell him the entire case or not? Man, your store sounds wonderful. Still haven't had Parabola, but I would definitely have limits like you. To be honest, I usually leave extras of stuff for people. I mean at most I would get like 2 or maybe 4 of something if I want to age it. How many would be in a case for Parabola? I mean that stuff comes in its own box for crying out loud. The store that I go to has a small section up front for expensive singles (like a $12 BCBS, 120 min, a 2012 celebration, and a six pack of aged bigfoot from different years). But other than that it is all on the shelves or on the top of like 7ft. bomber display shelves that line the walls. They only really display the known ones, but I mean Mikkeller one-offs and signed bottles they have right on the shelves. However, here in MD we don't get many whales at all, and the ones we do get are 'local whales', but that is about it.

 

They held two bottles of KBS for me so I guess. Bitch.

 

Haha, I absolutely did not sell him the entire case. Parabola comes 12 to a case, I sold him one and since I really didn't care about losing a whale chaser with a terrible sense of entitlement I basically told him he can buy the one bottle option that is so plainly visible all over or he is free to purchase anything else in whatever quantity he felt.

He took his one and left but since I'm not a total prick, I gave him a free Duvel art glass (Kishimoto I believe) for the troubles.

 

I really need to invest in some nice glass like that (just looked it up and that is a nice one). I just have a Stone and Terrapin pint glass, both of which I got from their respective events that I attended. Also, I have a Chimay goblet/chalice, but I haven't used that much. Really, I should get a tulip, a snifter and an oversized wine glass. However, I do like the look of DFH's signature glass (not that weird new IPA one of theirs) and the Samuel Adams designed pint glass.

 

You're almost like the real life Ned Flanders... I'm not a total prick either, but the only thing that guy would have gotten from me was a free kick in the ass out the door, with a smile and a "have a nice day" to go right along with it.

Thumbs up on the attitude, I'd shop at your store if I could.

 

my point was that slander means false and malicious statements...

 

Sounds like a dumb place.

 

This is interesting to me. I just was on a business trip near Chicago and purposefully drove home rather than fly so I could go by FFF and grab some stuff. I also decided to check out local stores and went by Wise Guys to see if there was anything different. I looked around for 15 minutes and was never approached by anybody to see if I needed help. Come to think of it I don't remember even seeing an employee while I was there. Can't say my experience was a positive one. I ended up leaving without buying anything from them, and now I'm glad I didn't.