If I were to be opening a home brew store where would I find wholesale equipment along with all other homebrew supplies? Also what do you feel the start up cost of equipment and supplies to maintain a descent opening inventory? Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated…
I have no personal experience, but all my local homebrew shops use BSG:
No offense, but are Homebrew shops the next cupcake bakery trend? These threads appear to be getting more common and I am noticing more places carry supplies where they didn’t before.
The worst was a BBQ supplies place in Northern California that had no idea what they were selling. I asked the owner why they didn’t sell brew-haulers as they are a simple up sell when folks are buying carboys. Never heard of them. They had maybe 4 pounds of hops total spread across maybe 10 varieties. I swear they just bought an LHBS starter kit from BSG.
Low quality stores are going to breed low quality new Brewers.
I’m just trying to expand my current grow shop into homebrew supply shop as well…
BSG, ld Carlson, fermentap (MoreBeer), brewmaster. There are loads and loads to choose from.
Also BrewCraft
Country Malt Group, hopunion.
Grow shop? Like, weed?
Vegetables as well. Most hydro shop cater to all plant life. 
Well, most of the suppliers have been identified. As for inventory, as them for their recommendations. They’ll usually supply you with a spreadsheet of what to get to start out. LD Carlson provides one of the better ones.
However, they all push stuff that really isn’t needed along with the key items you should have. Beware of the wine kits. Those are generally slow movers with a big up front costs. Also ask yourself “what do most people commonly buy online?” vs. stuff that’s more commonly bought at a “brick and mortar” store. Heavy items are usually bought locally vs. light weight items that ship free etc. Like all things there are exceptions.
I would say initially focus on the essentials and start adding all the cool stuff as you grow. i.e. You need a good malt selection, a reasonable hop selection, a good yeast selection, and key cleaning/sanitization & equipment items like PBW, Starsan, hydrometers, bottle caps etc. Things like Blichman items, pumps etc. can come later if you determine there is a market for it.
I would also recommend contacting and seeing if you can work for a homebrew store that won’t be in your competitive area. Some owners are really nice and helpful…others are…well…you know.
In general, I’d say you have a lot of homework to do; a lot of digging and research. If you don’t have any small business experience, especially retail hobby business exp. (besides being a shelf stocker at your local mart…), follow up with your local small business association. If there’s a SCORE chapter near you, even better and check that out too.
As for start up expense and revenue - you can find that/figure it out on your own. Again, your local SBA or SCORE chapter will really help you out a lot.
If you really want to do this, I would recommend that you learn how to brew at home. Once you have 10 or so batches under your belt, you will have a better idea of what is needed, and will be able to provide a modicum of advice. The world does not need more uninformed HB suppliers.
Thank you all for the help…
Bengelbrau - I would say more like years of experience. Seriously… You have no idea the questions and craziness you get from customers. If you’re not advanced to expert, you’ll fumble a lot and really just be like another unhelpful “name that mart” worker.
Time to hire an experienced home brew manager or sales clerk? (or two)