Private Stores and Convenience

[Bytowner]

Thought this was a pretty interesting article, apologies if it should have gone in the debate thread:

http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/david-c ... t+of+us%29

Anyways, we've gone over this quite a bit, and some are of the opinion having 1 or 2 great stores makes up for all the crappy stores that come with privitization. Important to note the reason most non-beer geeks are all about store hours.

[mintjellie]

I'm of that opinion. Most stores will sell shit, some stores will specialize in catering to the geeks. I'll shop in the geek stores. And if demand grows enough over the next two decades, even supermarkets will carry what the geeks want. Just look at Wegmans.

Heaven would be waking up and discovering Wegmans announced plans to enter Ontario and the government announced grocery sales.

[Kel Varnsen]

I'm of that opinion. Most stores will sell shit, some stores will specialize in catering to the geeks. I'll shop in the geek stores. And if demand grows enough over the next two decades, even supermarkets will carry what the geeks want. Just look at Wegmans.

Heaven would be waking up and discovering Wegmans announced plans to enter Ontario and the government announced grocery sales.

I think it all depends if the these types of stores were added to what we already had, or if they were a replacement for what we already have. If they were a replacement I am not sure I would like it since I don't think one or two stores in the major ontario cities could support all the really good brewers we have at the moment (especially since brewers selling their products to other provinces doesn't seem to be that easy as it is for brewers in the US to sell their's to other states).

But if we still had the LCBO/TBS as well as convenience stores it could be awesome.

The thing about Wegman's is that last time I was at the one in syracuse, they had a full craft beer shelf because they were able to sell beer from all over the US. I don't think it would be that easy for any private Ontario store to source beer from all over Canada.

Plus even then with respect to Wegmans, the mixed 12 pack I bought from the Ithaca brewery was like 4 months past date (which seems to happen a lot when I buy stuff from the US). So I am not 100% sure that stores with crazy selection in small or medium sized towns is all it is cracked up to be.

[sprague11]

Plus even then with respect to Wegmans, the mixed 12 pack I bought from the Ithaca brewery was like 4 months past date (which seems to happen a lot when I buy stuff from the US). So I am not 100% sure that stores with crazy selection in small or medium sized towns is all it is cracked up to be.

I hit a botle shop in Saginaw last year and virtually all of the bottles they had that weren;t michigan brewers were between 3 months to 3 YEARS old. At least I can now say I tried a 3 year old Avery Maharaja (and never want to again). Great selection, but any time I've been back I'm watching bottling dates like a hawk.

[Kel Varnsen]

Plus even then with respect to Wegmans, the mixed 12 pack I bought from the Ithaca brewery was like 4 months past date (which seems to happen a lot when I buy stuff from the US). So I am not 100% sure that stores with crazy selection in small or medium sized towns is all it is cracked up to be.

I hit a botle shop in Saginaw last year and virtually all of the bottles they had that weren;t michigan brewers were between 3 months to 3 YEARS old. At least I can now say I tried a 3 year old Avery Maharaja (and never want to again). Great selection, but any time I've been back I'm watching bottling dates like a hawk.

The same thing happened to me at Wegmans (which was frustrating because Ithaca is like an hour away from Syracuse), plus the Bear World in Watertown (Stone IPA) and the store whose name escapes me in Canton. Lucikly the one I bought in Canton was Great Lakes Nosferatu which was like 8% so it might have held up even though it was like 6 months past its prime.

I think too many of these stores try to load up their inventory and say they have the best selection of craft beer in their county. But I don't think these small towns have the demand. Which is why I am going to be super careful from now on.

And which is why I laugh when people talk about how the fact that even small towns in the US have good craft beer selection as an example of how things could be way better in Canada.

[Belgian]

I think too many of these stores try to load up their inventory and say they have the best selection of craft beer in their county. But I don't think these small towns have the demand. Which is why I am going to be super careful from now on.

And which is why I laugh when people talk about how the fact that even small towns in the US have good craft beer selection as an example of how things could be way better in Canada.

I've rarely had problems in Buffalo. Especially with stores like Premier, even Wegmans are pretty reliable. Yes, some of the Consumers stores might screw you with year-old Keller Weisse (so much for Sierra Nevada's stringent policies) but you get used to which stores not to rely on for the wrong type things.

I'm sure Buffalo guys like Rudy (@Community Beer Works) know what time of year product is coming out, and also where to buy it fresh for the best price. It's just like avoiding the lame LCBO's here.

A town being smaller or larger doesn't necessarily limit the quality of the store, but I can see how certain small stores put quantity ahead of freshness! Maybe small-town stores need to be extra careful about their turnover & their reputation so that local customers can trust and support them.

[JesseM]

I think too many of these stores try to load up their inventory and say they have the best selection of craft beer in their county. But I don't think these small towns have the demand. Which is why I am going to be super careful from now on.

...but I can see how certain small stores put quantity ahead of freshness!

This describes the Beer Store pretty accurately. They get away with this shit constantly and don't have to worry about it because they only have to compete with the LCBO (and they don't even really have to do that). If we had some privatized sales from grocery stores and the old pseudo-monopolies sticking around (as they likely would), someone would eventually get their shit together and rotate stock properly for the sake of an advantage over the competition.

[mintjellie]

And I've bought out of date product from TBS as well. I'm not sure what your point is.

[sprague11]

I think too many of these stores try to load up their inventory and say they have the best selection of craft beer in their county. But I don't think these small towns have the demand.

It's weird. Saginaw draws from a population area of about 300,000 but I'm willing to bet very few of them care about drinking good beer or are just ticking if bottles like Maharajah are sitting for over a year.

The corner store in Soo michigan has maybe 20-30 craft beer in stock at any time, but the audience in the Soo is enough to keep these 20 or so beers moving at a steady pace. They see no reason to knock themselves out as they have a small consumer base buying the product (and are still able to bring in Hopslam and Breakfast Stout)

I think the ideal circumstance would be similar to the store in Winooski, which does massive business drawing from a population of 50,000 (and quite a few more tourists). Craft beer is everywhere in Vermont (and in quite a few places in bordering Quebec) so the locals and most of the tourists that visit the area have it in their heads that 1: Craft beer is good, and 2: this store has the good beer that they want.