Home Brew Supply Store

[Ciderhead]

I live in Wicklow and the potential for walk-ins is limited and current suppliers are all on industrial estates or low rent locations.
My bigger concern for you is the roi.
Pm me and we can have a coffee or even better still don't take just my word for it you can come to Hollands tonight meet, 10 other Homebrewers and find out what's important to HB'ers

I'm definitely planning to get to Hollands but not tonight, I'll keep an eye out for next months meeting and will come along and meet you all.
Cheers,
Rachel.

Pm sent

No contact, can only guess this was looking through round window.
Summary is market is saturated with 6 suppliers not including Tescos, of varying degrees who all have built up tremendous customer loyalty over the years and if you had 50k lying around water meters or domestic grey water harvesting systems is where there is money to be made.

[nigel_c]

For me a unique selling point of a walk in home brew shop would to be able to walk in, go through and weigh out exactly what grain I need, crush and walk out ready to go.

You see this setup in a lot of the US stores. You could bring in a printed recipe and get crush only what you need there and then.
I love the idea of a walk in shop back in Dublin.

[Bazza]

For me a unique selling point of a walk in home brew shop would to be able to walk in, go through and weigh out exactly what grain I need, crush and walk out ready to go.

I said that exact thing to the guy in the new House Of Homebrew shop in Belfast yesterday. Cheaper for them to order whole, in bulk, more markup whilst still being much cheaper (and fresher)  to the customer than those over-priced pre-packaged Youngs bags of crushed malt.

His response was 'watch this space'.

Mysterious.....


-Barry

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

I always think the ideal HB shop would be attached to a brewery. Constant supply of fresh malt, hops, yeast, chemicals etc, all bought in bulk.

Some of the London Micros are doing this, or dipping their toe in it. I used to get my base malt from a small hobby brewer. £25 for a 25Kg sack of Maris Otter? Deal. Carrying it back from Hammersmith nearly killed me though. There are loads of stories of guys getting fresh house yeast from breweries too, by bribing the brewers with a novel home brew or two.

Also some of the smaller/newer micros have interesting little brewery tap bars, where you can get a lot of help direct from the brewers themselves, up to and including getting fresh ingredients.

The micros benefit by already being in urban areas, and it is not their core line of business - they are not relying on that revenue, and anyone who turns up might buy a beer or six. Strong overlap between home brewers and beer enthusiasts too. Everyone wins.

[irish_goat]

and anyone who turns up might buy a beer or six.

If Irish micros could sell direct to the public I think they'd be on to something there.

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

and anyone who turns up might buy a beer or six.

If Irish micros could sell direct to the public I think they'd be on to something there.

No sign of that changing though, due to the mess that is licensing atm.

[Will_D]

A few observations:

1. Walk in shop: Highly desirable for newbies. However if you don't live in a city centre like Dublin parking is a PITA. I much prefer to drive round the city and find an out-of-town HB shop with free/easy parking. Out of town probaly cuts cost be a half to a quarter.

2. The current HB market is EXPLODING with new products. In the old (70s)days (yes I am old enough) there were two types of yeast for sale: Wine or Beer. There were about 5 kit beers. A bit of chemicals and equipment. The whole commercial HB market could be displayed on one 6' x 3' 5 shelf display

  A few(20) years later then the shelf space was starting to fill the small shop:
  Diverse dried yeast, multiple kits from 5 or more companies, Fresh grain, Fresh hops. Equipment

  Nowadays our biggest online retailers post up things like"Just added 200 new products to our 2500 existing products! Can you really afford to carry 100 or 200k of stock(a lot of it with ,1 year BB dates)

There is nowt worse than walking into a shop with a list and not finding the items! That is why we shop online (but as pointed out: Excellent stock control s/w is a must)

3. In order to offer a walk in service you need to concentrate on the "walk-in" clientel. They are either going to be newbies needing help and guidance with their first kit/first extract and even first all-grain efforts or they will be experienced well stocked brewers who have run out of something simple. One sale to the later will not even cover wages of the person ringing the €4 into the till!

4. OK thats got the HB beer ootw: You mention Jams: So Jams/Jellies/Pickles/Vinegar mothers/Yoghurt/Bread/Country Wines/Table kit wines can all generate a massive diverse client base.

5. As already pointed out: Hold a demo day for any of the above - charge to cover costs plus a bit and then sell the basics!

  Get the granny in for some pectin or bread yeast and flog her a HB kit for the 19 year old grandson

  When the granson comes in for the next kit, flog him a yoghurt starter for his mum, and a sour dough bread kit for granny!

HTH

[Ciderhead]

I live in Wicklow and the potential for walk-ins is limited and current suppliers are all on industrial estates or low rent locations.
My bigger concern for you is the roi.
Pm me and we can have a coffee or even better still don't take just my word for it you can come to Hollands tonight meet, 10 other Homebrewers and find out what's important to HB'ers

I'm definitely planning to get to Hollands but not tonight, I'll keep an eye out for next months meeting and will come along and meet you all.
Cheers,
Rachel.

Pm sent

No contact, can only guess this was looking through round window.
Summary is market is saturated with 6 suppliers not including Tescos, of varying degrees who all have built up tremendous customer loyalty over the years and if you had 50k lying around water meters or domestic grey water harvesting systems is where there is money to be made.

Had a call last week and didn't realise you can buy basic beer fermentation products like yeast etc in Bray already!
Anyway I am sure she will give it a go and it would be great to be able to buy products in a bricks and mortar premises in the Greater Dublin area.