Hi All Homebrewers,
My name is Rachel and I'm considering opening a Home Brew Supply Store. The centre of Dublin would be ideal but I live in Kilpedder Co Wicklow myself so will also be looking at locations there, like Greystones for instance. I'm only at the market research stages yet so any feedback would be appreciated. I plan to include supplies for jam pickle and chutney making too. I hope to be up and running within a year or so all going to plan. Hope to hear from some of you,
Cheers,
Rachel.
With homebrew stores in Ireland I think it is very useful to be a specialist in a couple of areas, i.e. selling kits by itself isn't really going to make you stand out. You have already proposed supplying jam making equipment which in itself is potentially a specialist area. Additionally as more brewers get pressure cookers for sterilisation, they are also useful for the canning process. This type of thinking will make you stand out and you wo
A lot of brewers are looking for a brewing store in Dublin but the majority buy on-line. You would need to weigh up the pro's and cons of having an expensive city centre location v.s a much cheaper location closer to where you live. I know the last brew shop in Dublin they barely sold enough on a given day to justify the person's wages and rent so they changed location and went on-line as a result.
If you're good then folk will travel to a bricks and mortar shop, city centre or otherwise. Whenever I'm in Belfast I pop into Nature's Way, even though I don't make kit beers and their hops are ancient.
As for supplying stuff, I think stocking some common grains, hops and yeast would be good. Jam, chutney, cheese and yoghurt, hedgerow wines (NOT KOMBUCHA!). There are plenty of home-brewers/home-jammers in your neck of the woods.
Pity I'm not.
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
Smooth. 8)
Volume trading is what you need to make it. Also high quality fresh ingredients. Competition online is huge, and the only real call for a brick and mortar store is for emergency ingredient supplies (you are out of a specific item for a recipe, like fresh yeast or a particular hop). I don't think you can do it with a brick and mortar store as a primary source of income.
The frugality and independence are cornerstones of the hobby. While there are some cases where people will go to extravagant lengths to make a particular beer, (like a barrel aged strong stout, cultivating commercial yeasts from bottles etc) its a rarity in the business.
Its a badge of honour when you can make beers that completely outclass the regular commercial beers, but you do it for a fraction of the cost. For regular strength beers, experienced brewers who shop around or bulk buy, can get the ingredient and brewing costs down to about €8-€12 for a 20L batch. So we are talking about 25c per 500ml bottle. This applies to equipment also, witness all of the articles here that talk about self building brewing kettles, mashing vessels, and use cheap transfer pumps. Or who cut all the corners and use a single vessel for everything.
I know in the UK most Home Brew Shops are online only, and if they have a retail access it is in a remote area. They are also very clever in how they get revenue. Workshops are a big thing here, tasting sessions etc.
The fella I go to in the UK is in a portacabin tacked onto a massive garden centre. He's online mainly, I gather.
I also gather, from HomeBrewTalk (American) that new brewers go to their LHBS for advise as well as ingredients.
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.
I agree, Thomas. But how many brewers could be arsed bagging malts and hops and so on, on top of the other crap that goes with brewing?
Also you'd be limited to whatever hops the brewery uses, so Cascade and Northern Brewer. ::)
Quote from: Tom on January 23, 2014, 12:29:36 PM
I agree, Thomas. But how many brewers could be arsed bagging malts and hops and so on, on top of the other crap that goes with brewing?
Also you'd be limited to whatever hops the brewery uses, so Cascade and Northern Brewer. ::)
Nah I mean you still have a separate shop and staff like the current HB shops do and you'd still stock small supplies of different hops and malts. The difference would be you'd have fresher supplies of base malts and standard hops and you could have vials of yeast that are only a few hours old. Plus you'd have brewers available to do workshops etc.
And a few of the micros would have a decent spread of hops. :P
It would actually be really cool to get an official "Metalman All grain kit" or "Hooker AG kit".
Quote from: shiny on January 23, 2014, 12:38:55 PM
It would actually be really cool to get an official "Metalman All grain kit" or "Hooker AG kit".
Not a bad idea! And it'd not be like they'd be giving away their recipes as you'd have no idea what quantities/varieties were in it.
Quote from: CH on January 23, 2014, 11:50:57 AM
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.
Thanks to all of you for your feedback and opinions, this is all very helpful indeed,
Slainte,
Rachel.
Rachel one thing i would say is that if you go online with your shop, please try not to have 30 items for sale online and all out off stock at the same time like most of the online shops in Ireland.
When you are setting up your software for your online shop give serious consideration to decent stock take software, also might be an idea to include a button which hides all items currently out of stock so it would save customers wasting time looking for items and them they are not there.
All i am saying is if you are out of stock fair enough, nobody can stock everything, just don't display it online ;D
Best of luck with your new venture and hope to see you up and running real soon :D
Quote from: Rachel Lindsay on January 23, 2014, 01:06:57 PM
Quote from: CH on January 23, 2014, 11:50:57 AM
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.
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.
Quote from: nigel_c on January 23, 2014, 01:34:10 PM
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
Quote from: irish_goat on January 23, 2014, 12:23:52 PM
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.
Quote from: TheSumOfAllBeers on January 23, 2014, 04:12:27 PMand 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.
Quote from: irish_goat on January 23, 2014, 04:15:05 PM
Quote from: TheSumOfAllBeers on January 23, 2014, 04:12:27 PMand 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.
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
Quote from: CH on January 23, 2014, 01:26:31 PM
Quote from: Rachel Lindsay on January 23, 2014, 01:06:57 PM
Quote from: CH on January 23, 2014, 11:50:57 AM
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.