MPLS Black Friday/BCBS

Coming in this week. Looking to snag a rare if at all possible. Anybody know of holdouts (even if it's because the shop is gouging) please let me know.

 

It works that way for plenty of stores. Just off the top of my head Zipps, F44, SLL, and Big Discount Eagan all did timed releases and I haven't heard a negative thing about any of them. If you're not going to do timed then have extra staff on hand and be prepared for the phone calls/people stopping in on black friday. It's not like this is the first year and this is a big shock to everyone.

Here's how you could have done things, if you're suggesting improvements at your store. I went to Blue Max in Burnsville around 10. There were 8 or 9 people already hanging out in the store along with one employee. I figured that was the bourbon county line and asked if they knew when it was being released. They were still waiting for the allotment, but the employee (I'm pretty sure owner but I don't know him well enough to recall his name) said it should be soon. The phone rang about a dozen times while we stood there and he answered each call courteously, explained bcbs wasn't in yet, and hung up. Then the phone rang and it was the delivery driver. After the call he told everyone the driver would be there in twenty minutes. He asked us to be patient as he entered them into the system and started checking everyone out. He called up another employee from the back so they could ring up two at a time. This entire time more people were trickling into the store until there were probably 30+ in a line that wrapped around a display and down an aisle. There was no bickering, no cutting, no fighting, nothing. Lots of small talk about the beer and the weather. You're in customer service. Dealing with customers can suck, but that's the line of work you chose. Be a professional, answer stupid questions, don't purposefully lie to customers or price gouge and things will go a lot smoother.

I certainly wasn't requesting special service or anything in my post. Just saying that it's rude to lie to your customers. If you don't know when you're going to get something in then say so. Don't say to come back tomorrow or next week when you know full well it will be sold out that day. If you're going to hold back some for regular customers that's fine too, I think we all understand that that happens. Again, don't lie to us. If we can see that you have bottles sitting there and you won't sell them to us, that makes us not want to shop at your store.

 

I would wager that you're right on that. Like I said, the people working at CashWise seemed not to know what it was. Oh, well, there's always next year.

 

Brooklyn Center Liquor will be releasing on the 18th, along with a cellar sale, at 5pm. They will have coffee, bw, and rare.

 

Guess that's why calling around on Friday I was getting blank stares. Bourbon County? I didn't know Goose Island made spirits. I love my parents but their choice of residence really hampers my Black Friday booze hunting.

 

Burnsville Total Wine did a 1 bottle limit, but 1 bottle of everything. Was about 30th in line, was lucky to get the last bottle of rare with everything else gone. Thanks to the 5 or so people that passed on Rare. Was hoping for the 1 bottle limit like the other store to hopefully get a regal or coffee. Ended the hunt at 1 rare, 4 regular and 4 coffee. Found infinite more coffee this year than last year, and I want to Chicago last year haha.

 

FYI I was just in Hudson today and stopped at Spirit Seller across the street from the Nova. Picked up what I think was the last Project Pam and noticed a case of regular BCBS with several bottles still in it behind the register. Grabbed one (11.99 and don't know if there was a limit). Still several sitting there.

 

That's really odd. I stopped in yesterday and asked about BCBS.... They told me they never received any. Either the staff did not know their beer, they got it in after I left, or they lied to me.

 

Seemed to have been a fair amount of that going around.

 

The guy at the register seemed to not know what Bourbon County was.

 

We handled it well, we took all of our calls, and were courteous to our customers. The store I work at had been in business a long time, and go the extra lengths to make our customers happy. We just happened to have a couple assholes who showed up, and they put a damper on it. I'm sure EP liquors respects you for being a loyal customer, but please realize releases like this are a mess. When a small store has 40 people show up for a limited release, and it disappears in a matter of minutes, you have to realize the stress of the situation. No matter how loyal you are as a customer, you have to realize you're not the first thing on the owners mind at that moment in time. All I'm saying is be realistic, and understanding that this release was a mess. EP liquors still values you as a customer, and I'm sure they wish they had better information before things became a mess on Friday morning like our store experienced.

 

Fine, but if you work there on Black Friday and say, "check back tomorrow" you are one of 2 things:
1. straight not telling the truth
2. a undereducated liquor store employee that Bourbon County was coming in that day
Neither of wihch is a reason to say that. If you don't know, maybe ask a question, because if a customer asks for a specific item at any store, it's nice to look for the customer at any rate.

I'll be going to a nearby store that actually spends the 30 seconds to talk to me about beer.

 

Just landed back in the cities and have the day off. Wasn't able to snag any being out of town. If anyone has any leads in the western burbs, I'm all ears. Quickly reading through the thread, I'm guessing there isn't anything left and I'll have to hope for December releases at a few locations.

 

Project Pam and Bourbon County Reg and Barley still at Spirit Seller.

 

It was me! Cheers!

 

Called around to a few places in the twin cities. Most places getting it on Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

if you are still hunting, still available at Big Top Ridgedale.

 

Anything still hanging around the Bloomington area?

 

A few left at minnehaha lake wine and spirits at $10.99. One might be left at elevated at $9.99.

 

Very good!

That looks like a Boston Bruin's jersey in your avatar, but with no #. Perhaps consider putting #77 on it, after of course, you've peeled off your previous #7. If you're a Bruin's fan, or just an NHL fan, you likely know what I'm speaking of:



(Note; only a few were in on what Bourque was going to do...)

Thanks again!

B-V (former Minnesota North Stars fan, before they moved to Dallas...gosh, was it really 22 years ago?)...