Service has disappeared. This store has an empties return to the left of the entrance, 2 check out stations to the front-right of the entrance, and the doors to the self serve beer area between. There is rarely anyone at the check-outs. You have to take your purchase across to the empty return line to pay for your beer. Its not the fact you have to carry your beer another 30 feet to pay. It's the fact that after already waiting in line to return your empties, you often have to line up again behind others returning empties to pay for your beer. Horrible service.
It used to be that the beer store had someone taking in the empties, someone handling the sales, and in the case of the non-self serve, someone in the back putting the orders on the rollers and pushing them through to the front. Now, they usually have one person doing it all, which of course slows everything down, wasting customer time. And for this, we have the privilege of paying twice as much here, as you can by the same Brewed in Canada beer for across the border in Buffalo. The total elimination of the Brewers Retail monopoly can't come soon enough. read more