The ‘beauty’ of the three tier system? My purchase of those beers at the brewery was much cheaper. 13 bucks I seem to recall. Cheers!
Has there been a recent price increase. I thought $20 a four pack was the going rate for those beers. When we've gotten the occasional drop of heady out here, the price has ranged between $18 and $20. Markups here are probably a bit gentler than they are in your neck of the woods, but even so... $22 a four pack seems a bit high.
I'm in a pretty touristy spot in the Hudson Valley of NY - my management mandated markup is typically 35%, so a beer at the brewery that cost 13 dollars would be 20 bucks on my wall. Unfortunately, with a markup like that it means that a lot of the more special beers often end up being (well) past 20+ for a 4-pack. I have some wiggle room, which I generally try to take advantage of in benefit of my customers.
IIRC, you work in a higher-end, specialty grocer, which I thought when reading originally, “Cool job to be in charge of the beer there!” Does your management decree that the 35% margin is above store cost or above what the item would sell for at another retailer? A $13 beer that’s $20 bucks — a nearly 54% markup — would probably make me visibly flinch if I knew it could be had that much cheaper across town. Of course, if I’m a traveling tourist, the wallet opens more readily, especially if it’s something on my hit list.
It’s a horrible thing to say, but many of the craft breweries around here charge $18-$20 for a 4-pack — and I refuse to buy them, though I know they charge these prices to stay in business. I end up buying from Sierra Nevada, or Lagunitas or New Belgium, even ghought] I live in Vermont
I will ONLY drink them if I’m at a Mexican restaurant and that’s the only option, and Negro Modelo if I can, or probably a Margarita
Correct, I do work at a specialty grocery store. However, my beer prices are pretty comparable to other beer stores in the area, and they're pretty consistently lower than say, a specialty beer store like Half Time. Mid Hudson Valley is a pretty pricey area! On my beer wall, the 35% is on top of what the vendor charges us. Obviously I lower it considerably for sales and clearance.
I live in Buffalo and it's getting pricy here. Even a diet cola is 4 bucks if your eating out. Beer is no different unless you get rural. I can still get a 4 dollar Genny drafts in a frosted mug but it's a 25 minute drive into the country.
If I were in the local beer store and I saw a 20 dollar four pack of Heady Topper or Focal Banger I would jump on it. I would tell myself that 5 bucks for a 16 ounce pour. Not bad IMO.
Damn, the last drop of Heady we got around here a couple of weeks ago(which was a surprise that they even got drops around here, just moved back a few months ago after being gone for 15 years), it was $18.99 and less than 3 weeks old.
You're saying that a brewer than sells beer for off-premise consumption both at their brewery and also distributes - either self- or through a distributor- sells their beer on site to consumers at the wholesale price ($13 in the example)? That's certainly not typical.
Warsteiner 24pk $28.99 and Bitburger 12pk small cans $19.99 in Hudson, WI ystrdy. So I bought 24 12oz bottles of ice cold fresh Yuengling Trad for $24.99. I grazed thru the store and beer prices there are slightly lower than in MN. Plus they have plenty of New Glarus, if that's your ticket. NG beers aren't priced outrageously high, but they're not cheap either. Winner: Yuengling
No, that was a hypothetical in response to a user a above saying he got a four pack at the brewery for 13 dollars. There's certainly beers I get that are much cheaper (or much more expensive for that matter), the point was that the mark up that's pretty typical in my area, and in my store is 35% regardless of how much we pay for it from the brewery.
Okay, a quick pull (for those interested in NY/Hudson Valley pricing) of a domestic, NY state specific, a local brewery and import from my inventory: Sierre Nevada - Pale Ale (6-pack of bottles), I get for 9.46 from the distributor and sell for 14.99 at a margin that's almost 37%. Other Half - All Citra Everything (4-pack, 16 oz), I get for 15.74 from the distributor and sell for 23.99 with a margin just under 35%. Catskill Brewing - Ball Lightning (6-pack, 12 oz), I get for 8.07 from the brewery and sell for 12.99 with a slightly higher margin of almost 38%. Schneider - Aventinus (4-pack, 16oz cans), I get for 12.74 from the distributor and sell for 19.49 with a margin just under 35%.
35% markup on $13 is only $17.55. Charging $22 for some alchemist is definitely looking to squeeze the hype.
I think those Duvel's affected your memory! Wegmans typically sells Heady at $18 per four pack in MA. Redstone Liquors in MA also received this last Heady drop and it was canned on 3/15. @brewme kind of sounds like that store sucks...
