Meet The Retailer A profile of SIBA Business Award finalist Wee Beer Shop in Glasgow

Wee but mighty

Owner operator Niall Kennedy launched his singlesite retail operation, Wee Beer Shop, just over five years ago in Pollokshaws Road in Glasgow and has stuck to his guns ever since when it comes to fiercely defending the principles of quality and independence on which the business is founded. His uncompromising vision for a bottle shop selling top quality beer from the best, fully independent breweries in the UK, has led to Wee Beer Shop becoming a destination for craft beer aficionados from outside Glasgow as well as a focal point for the beer community in the city itself. With licensing in the area made difficult by local bureaucracy, the lack of taprooms makes the shop a vital outlet for some of the emerging small local Glasgow brewers, as well as being the only Scottish outlet for many of the independent brewers from South of the border in England that have their beers stocked there. This does, however, present several problems for Niall in the current tough market, not least the huge rise in online sales direct to customers from small breweries during, and now beyond, Covid has put added pressure on Wee Beer Shop which struggles to match them on pricing and obviously is now in direct competition with those brewery webshops. Perhaps more concerning still is the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) planned for Scotland for next year, a scheme that Niall is in no doubt could lead him to close the shop if it goes ahead in its current proposed form. SIBA Independent Brewer’s Caroline Nodder spoke to Niall back at the start of November to find out more about how he came to open the shop and how the business is faring five years on…

Business Basics

Name: Wee Beer Shop Founded: October 2017 Location: Glasgow Owner: Niall Kennedy Number of retail sites: One Staff: One

Key product categories and

sales mix: Specialises in modern beer styles mostly from UK craft breweries, but also sells a large percentage of Belgian and German beer.

How did you come to launch Wee Beer Shop and how has the business developed since then?

“This feels like a common origin story for beer shop owners. Wee Beer Shop partly came out of a frustration with my day job. I was a freelance marketing consultant, frustrated by having to constantly chase new work, often frustrated with what I had to try to sell on behalf of others. I just didn’t believe what I was doing had much value and wanted a change. I had also just moved to a new part of Glasgow which wasn’t well served by good beer shops and got fed up having to travel to buy beer and thought there might be scope to open a beer shop locally, so I began to plan what the shop would be. I had no experience of the beer industry other than as an enthusiastic drinker, so I spent a year or so researching the industry, visiting other shops around the country and speaking to breweries. In the meantime, I had found premises, after a lot of looking. I chose a small unit away from the main drag of shops in the area which felt a bit risky, but it was affordable. Since then the neighbourhood has become a vibey place and lots of cool retailers have followed me. My next challenge will be whether the landlords decide to increase rents, even in the current challenging trading conditions. Another obstacle at the beginning was the time it took to get a licence. Glasgow’s licensing board is notoriously slow. It took eight months to get a licence and in the meantime I ran some pop-up pub nights in the shop and some of those that attended are still customers. Eventually I opened five years ago on Friday 13th of October 2017. If I was superstitious I might have delayed by a day, but I was desperate to get open by then!”

What did you aim to achieve when you launched the business?

“First and foremost the business was to provide an income for me. I had no grand plan of building an empire - it was to give me a job that I would enjoy. So to that end, it’s been successful. I then wanted to introduce good beer to people, give them alternatives to drinking the bog standard beer that was available in supermarkets and local off licences. And finally, I wanted to help small breweries by providing an outlet for their beer. “

The Glasgow craft beer scene has evolved a lot since you opened, how involved have you been in that?

“Glasgow is a funny city for craft beer. It often feels like everything is overshadowed by Tennents, whether modern craft or traditional cask. It’s definitely not as mature as, dare I say it, Edinburgh is. There’s a lack of brewery taprooms for a start. The only taproom at the moment is Drygate. That might be down to the difficulty of working with the local licensing board of course. There are some really talented brewers in Glasgow though. As I mentioned earlier, one of the reasons for opening the shop was to support small breweries. We’ve been the first, or one of the first, stockists for a lot of the current Glasgow breweries, from Overtone to Simple Things, Dookit to Bungo Brew Co, and hopefully that exposure to our customers has helped them to grow. Of course, as the breweries develop they look for other routes to market and other stockists and it can be a bit frustrating when you find those beers in local corner shops where they sell beer as a loss leader. I’m pragmatic enough to realise that’s a fact of life but it’s frustrating all the same.”

I had no experience of the beer industry other than as an enthusiastic drinker, so I spent a year or so researching the industry, visiting other shops around the country and speaking to breweries.

How do you select the beers you stock?

“The shop is stocked very much as I might stock my personal beer fridges. I only want to sell the best beer that I can. And that’s determined by what I like, rather than what the market tells me. Inevitably that means full flavoured and modern and expensive beer because that’s what I like to drink. I do not try to represent the entire industry because that would be physically impossible. That inevitably means that I miss out on the lower priced end of the market. Of course, that is a subjective choice, but it means that I’m confident recommending anything I sell. Independence and integrity is paramount for me. We ditched Beaverton and Magic Rock when they lost their independence and we would have ditched Brewdog over their recent behaviour, if we hadn’t ditched them several years ago for the quality of their beer.”

We... “Know How”

Offering complete packaging line solutions for Bottling, Canning & Kegging since 1993

FRAMAX specializes in the supply of machinery and complete “Turn Key” production lines for the bottling and packaging industry, covering primarily the beverage field but also catering for special needs in the food and chemical sectors. The key to our success is the “know how” gained in over 40 years of experience in this industry and the ability to supply equipment performance, competitive pricing and efficiency of after sale service and support.

Contact Us Tel. +44 (0)23 80750062 Email: info@framax.co.uk

Do you run tastings?

“We have done tastings in the past and I got a bit of a buzz from seeing brewers get direct feedback from customers. However, during and since Covid I have rearranged the shop a bit and lost out on some of the space that was used for the tastings so we haven’t done any since. From a personal point of view I still get a bit Covid anxious around people in a confined space, and our shop is small, so that’s holding me back a bit in reintroducing tastings.”

Describe the perfect customer experience in your shop?

“I think perfect experiences are dependent on each customer. Some customers know what they want and are happy to browse without much input from me. We are definitely a destination that people can come to and know they’ll find the latest releases from the best breweries in the country, if they like the modern take on beers. Others are looking to be guided - they’ll give me an idea of what they like to drink - and I’ll come up with some suggestions. It’s a good feeling that people feel they can trust my recommendations. Of course that’s not a service that they’ll get if they go looking for beer in Tesco or Aldi and hopefully people realise that’s why prices are higher in a specialist shop. The most pleasing thing is when customers come back, having taken a recommendation, to tell me that the beer is now their favourite beer. When it happens with Duchesse de Bourgogne that’s an even better feeling.”

We are definitely a destination that people can come to and know they’ll find the latest releases from the best breweries in the country.

What is your pricing strategy and how do you compete with larger retailers?

“As a bricks and mortar retailer I can’t compete on price with breweries selling direct, onlineonly businesses and supermarkets. So I don’t focus on their pricing. I concentrate on setting my own pricing that covers my costs and allows me to make a small profit. I don’t compete with supermarkets. If a beer is stocked in a supermarket it has no place in my shop. That’s not a comment or criticism of the breweries who sell into supermarkets. They need to do what seems right for them. However, the wholesale price I pay means I can’t compete on price. If a brewery hits the supermarkets I’ll often drop them. I’d rather work with breweries who appreciate and value independent retailers. The way that breweries operate is a challenge. From not selling direct to customers in the past, to selling full cases, to allowing customers to choose single cans in a mixed box, to selling other breweries’ beers - breweries are essentially taking away the sort of trade that was done by shops only, and often at prices little higher than wholesale. Of course breweries, and all businesses, need to do what they need to do to get through the challenges of the past few years, and future challenges, but selling direct to the customers is only going to have a detrimental effect on independent shops. That’s a choice they need to make.”

How have you approached online retailing and how successful has that been for you?

“I launched our website six months before the pandemic, to allow customers to see our stock and to offer a click and collect service. It was a nice-to-have addition to the business at the time. During the pandemic online allowed us to continue selling, and we expanded the service to bring couriers in to deliver across mainland UK. There were a couple of periods during the pandemic when we closed the shop to the public so click and collect and deliveries were vital. Since things have ‘returned to normal’ online activity has reduced but it’s still an important part of the business. We have customers who are able to come to the shop and browse the fridges but prefer to use the website. I think that’s testament to the work that has gone into making the website easy to navigate and use.”

A large percentage of the beers that I sell are made outside Scotland. Often, I am the sole outlet in Scotland for the beers that I sell.

Why have you decided not to introduce draught taps to the shop?

“Funnily enough, I had taps for growler fills for the first couple of years of the shop. I decided to take them out, just before the pandemic… then pubs closed down and people were desperate for draft beer. Just another reason why I’ll never be entrepreneur of the year!”

Would you consider expansion to a second site?

“Never. I mentioned that the driver for opening the shop was to provide me with a job. I never wanted to build an empire. I like the day-to-day interaction with customers and I’m more of an operational guy than a strategic guy. That’s something I’d lose opening another shop.”

Has the pandemic changed the business permanently in any way?

“We did lots of pivoting during the pandemic, but I don’t think it’s changed the way that I’m doing things myself now, apart from opening up to a wider market with the e-commerce opportunities that I spoke about earlier. However, the pandemic changed the retail landscape - the way that breweries in particular operate. From not selling direct to customers, to selling full cases, to allowing customers to choose single cans in a mixed box, to selling other breweries’ beers - breweries are essentially taking away the sort of trade that was done by shops only.”

What are the main challenges a business like yours is facing in the Scottish market right now?

“The Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), supermarkets, breweries [selling direct to the consumer] and the cost of living crisis/ inflation.”

What qualities do you look for in the small breweries you work with?

“First and foremost the beer needs to be good. The packaging needs to be good too. I have decided against stocking some beers because the packaging isn’t good enough. A pet hate is can labels which don’t make basic information easily accessible to customers. Don’t make it difficult for potential buyers and make them have to pick up cans and spin them round - give them the information they need at a glance! Functionality is better than fancy design, every time. If a brewery is approaching a potential new stockist, give them all the information they might need. Supply pricing, beer information, images, delivery details will help me to make a decision. If you make me work hard I may decide it’s too much bother. If a brewery is able to share social media posts then that makes me much more likely to re-order their beer.”

How is the DRS scheme likely to affect you?

“DRS Scotland means that my business will no longer be viable and will almost certainly mean that I will have to close the business. A large percentage of the beers that I sell are made outside Scotland. Often, I am the sole outlet in Scotland for the beers that I sell. However, it won’t make financial sense for the breweries to comply with DRS requirements of Scotland-only labelling and registration so they will stop supplying beer to Scotland. Many of the breweries that I work with have told me that will be their approach once DRS Scotland begins. I’d love to replace those breweries with Scottish breweries but the reality is that Scottish breweries aren’t producing the type of beers that I want to sell. I don’t want to compromise what I want my business to be. There are other associated challenges but this fundamental one trumps them all. Integrations between the country-specific schemes might lessen the impact for me, but there doesn’t appear to be political will in Scotland for that.”

What are your plans for the business over the next five years?

“I’m unsure whether we will last another year, never mind five, given the challenges of DRS and the cost of living. I’ll keep going for as long as I can, but I’d be lying if I said I was optimistic.”

What are you proudest of during your time at Wee Beer Shop?

“I think it’s that despite all of the challenges of the past five years I haven’t abandoned my principles of quality and independence. I could have popularised the product offering to include AB InBev macro lagers or popular breweries that had ‘sold out’ but would have continued to sell well. I could have joined the race to the bottom and discounted to turn a quick buck. If I had done those things that might have meant I had a more sustainable business, one that isn’t as at risk to external influences, but it wouldn’t have been a business that I’m proud of every single day.”