Maybe homebrew shop sales are down as people are brewing more and buying bulk supplies. As much as I want to support LHBS, I would be brewing less with the differences in cost.
I also wonder is the homebrew shop sales are including the sales online or are they just brick and mortar sales?
I brewed an extract batch back in December, but it was a hard root beer.
The sales are down all over, at least per the interview. It didn't sound alarmist, just an observation. AHA does do some very good surveys of brewer behavior. I understand the hypothesis (all-grain brewing takes time, therefore people brew less, more brewers start out with AG or move to it earlier in their brewing experience, and brewing less = fewer sales overall), though there could be other drivers, such as an overall "craft beer bubble" that is softening. Gary Glass noted a significant number of homebrew stores closing last year. Whether or not you agree in tinkering with market forces :-) it's a really interesting interview.
Extract has a higher margin, so less extract hurts the bottom line. All grain is popular now, and combined with the rise of brew in a bag, less extract and fancy all grain equipment sales is a double whammy. Some are brewing less, but the AHA also knows that 4200+ breweries is having an influence on that. As Mike pointed out, more stores in an area dilutes the sales per store. There are the bigger internet stores that are growing and taking some business from the mom and pop Local store. The AHA membership is strong, but the hobby is not seeing double digit growth like in a string of previous years, just single digit growth. Then there are all of those guys Homebrewing like crazy to nail the recipes down, then they go pro and don't Homebrew (much). No one single answer, is there?
Jeff, this is an awesome look at the situation and I think all your points hit home to the LHBS industry.
Firstly, I brew all grain because its fun, and extract is more expensive. Second, I wonder what the sales are like at Morebeer? I'm almost an exclusive online shopper mostly because I can get EXACTLY what I want from a big online store.
I recently went into my LHBS for an impromptu brew day and they didn't even have pilsner malt. OK, any European munich malt? "I don't know where my munich malt is from." I've also found that the hops they sell aren't very fresh or aromatic. I simply can't trust the ingredients I buy there. Nonetheless, I need a local store for emergencies and CO2, so I try to stop in every once in a while.
Do all LHBS suck this bad?
I am in the same situation as your first paragraph. I love the hobby and find my brewing time to be my only time: nobody bothers me while I am brewing. For your second paragraph, I feel for you mainly because I have access through work travels to 3 different LHBS around town. I dont think for the average homebrewer around me that all 3 are interchangeable because of distance and none are what i would consider close to home(closest is half hour drive from home) i am always happy with Dan Listermann's brewing supply store. Great selection of ingredients, nice discount for either AHA or club membership, knowledge level of all employees that are also all homebrewers, great tasting room for the Brewery side of their business, and general friendliness of the staff. I therfore don't think all LHBS suck the way that yours does but again, I am very happy with my local options. As a final note, I am sure that I would never shop again at an LHBS that was regularly out of a base malt such as Pilsner and the lack of knowledge or unwillingness to share origins of produc are also a huge turnoff to me as a prospective buyer. I occasionally buy online if or when I find an unbeatable deal, but that is rare. Saving shipping and spending locally works well for me in my situation
I guess that was not really my final note, but this is: I would not likely buy an an extract kit to help out the LHBS, but I do shop my local stores regularly. Unfortunately, ymmv