Another home brew shop closing

[Grealish]

My local home brew shop, Dave's Home Brew in Worcester, is closing after three years. It's sad for me because my wife foolishly got me into home brewing after popping in there. I tried to get my grain and extract from him and bought some equipment but like most small shops he couldn't stock liquid yeast and didn't always have the hops I needed. He has no competition for miles around so if he can't make a go of it it's hard to see how there will be many local home brew shops soon.

 

[chesters-mild]

Sadly, it's a part of the demise of the local high street, in the past few years I've seen 3 local or fairly local HB shops and 4 Model shops close down. Buying on line is the way everything seems to be going. Just look at your local high street now, once there would have been a range of different shops - what is it now - Charity shops and smelly greasy take away outlets.
OK - rant over!
Cheers

 

[MmmBeer]

I was in there last week and he told me he was closing down in a couple of months.

DeeJays in Longbridge is also up for sale, although I understand that she is trying to sell as a going concern. I guess the only way to make a LHBS's work financially is to run it as an online venture in parallel.

If this forum is anything to go by, the home brew market appears to be growing, but I have never seen a LHBS busy.

 

[Cwrw666]

I tried to get my grain and extract from him and bought some equipment but like most small shops he couldn't stock liquid yeast and didn't always have the hops I needed.

And this is the real reason that the high street is dieing. Once upon a time you had money in your pocket and you went shopping in town and had to buy whatever you could find even if it wasn't really what you wanted. Now if you want something specific you can get it online - maybe cheaper, maybe not. But at least you get what you want.

 

[Graz]

Yeah saw that on Facebook.

Despite living in Worcester I've shopped there twice, both times to get S30 CO2 refills. I'd have used it more but it's the opposite side of Worcester from me and anyone who lives here will know what PITA it is for traffic and parking so it wasn't like I could just pop in there for supplies easily and I don't go into the city often anyway.

Unfortunately I shopped online before Dave's came along and carried on after though it will finally force me to get a pub sized CO2 cylinder.

Hope he has better luck in his next venture.

 

[Grealish]

Yeah saw that on Facebook.

Despite living in Worcester I've shopped there twice, both times to get S30 CO2 refills. I'd have used it more but it's the opposite side of Worcester from me and anyone who lives here will know what PITA it is for traffic and parking so it wasn't like I could just pop in there for supplies easily and I don't go into the city often anyway.

Unfortunately I shopped online before Dave's came along and carried on after though it will finally force me to get a pub sized CO2 cylinder.

Hope he has better luck in his next venture.

Yes, parking was a nuisance. Yesterday I realised I'd miscalculated how much grain I had and having Dave there meant I could go and get some and still brew today. Unfortunately, that kind of customer is obviously not enough to keep him going and realistically, the internet offers choice as much as value (as Cwrw points out.)

 

[Duxuk]

Leyland Homebrew is also likely to close. Joe and Teresa have run the business for over40 years but now want to retire. They sell online but if you want the business they also want you to buy the shop, I've heard. It would work OK in a small industrial unit where you could still retail but concentrate on the online side. The high street may be dying but it's still expensive.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Leyland Homebrew is also likely to close. Joe and Teresa have run the business for over40 years but now want to retire.

That will come as a big shock to a lot of members as Leyland Homebrew has been discussed here many times and is/was very popular.

 

[Duxuk]

That will come as a big shock to a lot of members as Leyland Homebrew has been discussed here many times and is/was very popular.

Funnily enough I called in yesterday afternoon and a few customers came in whilst I was chatting to Joe. They only open Thurs. Fri. Saturday now and the shop is well stocked. Maybe they're thinking of keeping it going for a while longer. Didn't like to ask in case I heard sad news!