beer republic closed?

[Dennis King]

Worcester hop shop don't sell Whitelabs yeast which I buy at the same time as I buy my sack of malt.

[Homebrew Supermarket]

Wow,

What a response, I wasn't expecting replies so quickly, this is fantastic.

In response to Boingy I understand that some people purely look at price but price isn't always what it seems. We are working on ways to make packages competitive. Sometimes that great deal on the internet then gets hit with a huge P&P bill or other items are inflated to balance the difference, we are only in our 6th week and have spent most of our time concentrating on local advertising and our Open Day. Our attention will be turned to the website over the coming weeks.Obviously I can't say the ideas that we have on here for now as I'm sure we have competitors watching but I can assure everyone on JBK that things are changing. If any of you live locally come and see us you'll notice changes immediately but it takes time to work through all of the areas, reps, pricing, negotiations, websites etc etc.

Yes we have upped our price of a sack of grain to £32 and limited our range for now. As for the comment 'give up now' many people said that we couldn't compete with the big boys with our student website, we now have some of them as Official Partners so we won't be deterred. There is after all 'more than 1 way to skin a cat'.

"Hops in a bag which isn't 5kg or 100g (1kg and 500g for a start)" thanks we'll look into that.

In answer to the other suggestions regarding taps and fittings for cornie kegs we are already on to that and hope to be supplying them in the next few weeks.

"Worcester hop shop don't sell Whitelabs yeast which I buy at the same time as I buy my sack of malt" thanks I believe Homebrew Supermarket used to supply Whitelabs but they got rid of the fridges so again we will be looking into that.

"Best tip: have a discount code for loyak JBK members! " I like this and we are already looking into a loyalty card scheme.

Your comments whether positive or negative all help us to get a picture of what people think and we are very grateful for your support.

Hope this helps

Kind regards

Martin Ramsden

Homebrew Supermarket
www.homebrewsupermarket.com
01928 574903

[kebabman]

As for the comment 'give up now' many people said that we couldn't compete with the big boys with our student website, we now have some of them as Official Partners so we won't be deterred.

You might not be deterred, but at £32 a sack I'm afraid we all will be.

[boingy]

.. I understand that some people purely look at price but price isn't always what it seems. ... Sometimes that great deal on the internet then gets hit with a huge P&P bill..

It's perhaps slightly patronising to suggest that we are incapable of including postage rates in our price comparisons.

Be under no illusions. the reason that Thrifty was so popular was that their prices were very low and their stock levels were huge. In addition they offered free delivery above a certain spend. They succeeded in building a large following in a short amount of time but I do wonder if they ever made any money at it.

And I think you really needed to get your website up and running properly before you told us about it!

[Homebrew Supermarket]

Hi Boingy, of course I was not trying to be patronising but in Marketing there is more than just price, deals, customer loyalty schemes, additional associated benefits, buy 2 get 1 free etc etc are all other ways of offering incentives to customers.

You are obviously purely focussed on price and that's fine - so too was Thrifty Shopper and they are no longer in business.

In answer though to your comment 'And I think you really needed to get your website up and running properly before
> you told us about it!'

I disagree, it is a base to start from and I was answering the question at the start of the thread regarding what was happening with Beer Republic and the transition to Homebrew Supermarket. 'We will be building on the website over the next few weeks and populating it.'

I also asked the forum on JBK what you would all like to see, so that it was interactive and we could build something that you would like. If we had done it your way Boingy all behind the scenes and then launched you'd probably have criticised us that we had not involved JBK.

Hope that answers any queries.

Kind regards

Martin Ramsden
Homebrew Supermarket
www.homebrewsupermarket.com
01928 574903

> It's perhaps slightly patronising to suggest that we are incapable of including postage
> rates in our price comparisons.
>
> Be under no illusions. the reason that Thrifty was so popular was that their prices
> were very low and their stock levels were huge. In addition they offered free delivery
> above a certain spend. They succeeded in building a large following in a short amount
> of time but I do wonder if they ever made any money at it.
>
> And I think you really needed to get your website up and running properly before
> you told us about it!

[greenxpaddy]

What a disappointment. I was about to drive up to Runcorn to buy a load of malt. But not at those prices, I'll get it delivered thanks.

[leedsbrew]

I wish you all the luck in the world and hope you are able to add to a growing list excellent suppliers to the homebrewing market! It's nice hat you are trying to establish yourself in your local market with 'face time' with the local brewers! Brewing forums (as you are well aware) are not the sole demographic of homebrewers!

I do agree that you may want to hurry up and get the rest of the website online ASAP if you want to build a customer base outside of Runcorn!

[Homebrew Supermarket]

Hi Leedsbrew, thanks for your message of support, we have been working on the website and getting to grips with Shopify, you'll notice a few changes, nothing major yet - but the work we're doing in the background should go live in a couple of weeks. We have started Tweeting special offers, apologies but they are currently offers for the shop, however, we will soon start Tweeting on line offers. If you are passing by it would be great to see you and any other JBK members.

If you're too far away please still follow us on Twitter, you'll find us by searching @homebrewsuprmkt . We will add the on line special offers very soon and they will be updated on a daily basis.

Hope to see or speak to you soon and thanks again for your kind words and support.

Martin & Jane - Homebrew Supermarket.
01928 574903

[AceMcAce]

I know that people may think that the price of your grain is a little high, but you have to remember that not everyone who brews at home is an all grain brewer. Personally I don't have the room or time to get into AG brewing, and I find that I can make great tasting beer from kits (with hops, different yeast, speciality grains etc added sometimes). Anyway, I'm yapping on about things that aren't really important.

I would be interested to see an industry wide breakdown of figures showing the amount of brewers who do kit, extract, BIAB, and all grain. (These figures are probably available somewhere obvious but I just haven't looked)

I wish you the best of luck with this. I'm a firm believer in shopping around, and more variety is always great for the consumer.

[Homebrew Supermarket]

Hi AceMcAce and all the other JBK members that have given us positive support or suggestions/ideas, they are all very much appreciated. I agree, not all brewers are all grain - myself included. We will try to appeal to both as best we can. At the moment we are beginning to add special offers for the shop on Twitter @homebrewsuprmkt but will soon be offering great deals on line. Please follow us on Twitter and get ready for some great deals on all grain and kits!

Kind regards and thanks again for your support.

We hope to serve you soon.

Martin & Jane - Homebrew Supermarket
01928 574903

[LeeH]

I noticed homebrewsupermarket has closed too when I went in to buy some Blueball Brewery Bottles.

[sbond10]

It closed well over a year ago maybe 2 now there prices never got better nor the website lol

[jamesb]

I noticed homebrewsupermarket has closed too when I went in to buy some Blueball Brewery Bottles.

Bet you didn't find Blueball Brewery either

(Moved to Kash 22 in Frodsham)

[orlando]

I noticed homebrewsupermarket has closed too when I went in to buy some Blueball Brewery Bottles.

Would appear that maybe there wasn't any other way to "skin a cat".

[Dave S]

I noticed homebrewsupermarket has closed too when I went in to buy some Blueball Brewery Bottles.

Would appear that maybe there wasn't any other way to "skin a cat".

Yeah, closed well over a year ago. I drove over there one day only to have my hopes dashed. There is a serious dearth of good home brew suppliers around the Northwest. I've got two nearby which are fine for bits and pieces - FV, kegs, jugs etc, but don't even think of buying ingredients - way over priced and badly stored.