(Oregon City, OR) – Liquid Solutions, one of (if not) the first online beer shipping businesses, is “closing its doors” after nine years, according to a statement from President Matt Maples. What is equally troubling is the trend of shops like LS shutting down over the past year.
“It is with a heavy heart that I am closing the business down after nine years of operation,” Maples writes. “We are shutting down the website and liquidating our entire inventory out of the warehouse. We are selling all beer, mead and ciders at 10-30% below cost. Hundreds of great beers are available. For a list of products see [this post]. Come to the warehouse early for the best selection.”
The reason for the closure is unknown at this time and it is hard to tell whether Maples will be able to ship any liqiuidated items. Fear not, there are plenty of alternatives to Liquid Solutions going forward that can still be found on the right side of the Buy Beer page.
Still, with all of the options we have for ordering beer online, it is concerning to see several options cease shipping operations within the past 12-18 months. Here’s a partial list:
Liquid Solutions
Liquor Max (physical store still open in CO)
Canal’s (physical store still open in NJ)
Arctic Liquor
(And does anyone know whether BeerGeek.biz is still shipping?)
Shipping beer is a challenging business. The antiquated laws governing shipping alcohol in the U.S. are pretty stringent and make it very difficult on beer stores- much more so than those shipping wine.
There is increased beer selection across the country today compared to five years ago making ordering beer online less of a need.
The beer trading culture has really taken off over the past couple years, posing a formidable alternative to online ordering.
Tracking shipments, customer service, packing boxes, etc. can be difficult to manage for a small staff.
There is definitely a lot of competition out there still as I said before. Hopefully, it stays that way.
I wonder why they closed down. I run an online beer store at http://BestBeerOnline.com and I must say it is not easy. BeerGeek.biz seems to have closed down too. Coincidence?
The retailer who fulfills my orders said it’s too much work to package and ship the beer so now I have 2 weeks to find another retailer for my site. If I would’ve known it was this hard to sell beer online, I probably wouldn’t have went through all the hassle.
It’s really a shame that Liquid Solutions closed, I hope all is well with Matt.
We started operating our online store a little over a year ago and recently started having trouble with UPS carrying our shipments. I don’t know if this is similar to the situation involving Liquid Solutions or BeerGeek.biz but we expect to have this cleared up in a week or so and be back shipping to our thirsty customers.
In the meantime, I encourage everyone who enjoys the ability to get the beer they want when they want it via the internet to let FedEx and UPS know that they need to update their shipping policies to be the same as their wine policy allowing for direct shipment of beer to consumers at their homes. You can reach UPS at [email protected] or at (404) 828-4900