Why are all of Pittsburgh's beer distributors so rude and dirty? (Greensburg: homes, buying)

[Tirade]

With very few exceptions, every beer distributor that I've visited in this state has been unprofessional, dirty, and generally unpleasant. Among the common problems I've encountered:

• Rude, stand-offish customer service that treats customers like a burden.
• Incompetent customer service that barely knows their products or anything about beer in general.
• Stores that are unorganized and/or just plain dirty.
• Unreliable supply of non-mainstream beers
• Useless website or no website at all (I realize that this is a rather small complaint, but it would be nice to browse a product list and easily locate their phone number).

It's not just a handful of distributors that I'm speaking about here; almost all of them are like this. Why? The free market does not tolerate this level of service and cleanliness in any other part of the retail industry.

It's my experience with buying beer in this area that makes me hesitant to support getting rid of the state liquor stores entirely. At least the state liquor stores are clean, organized, have consistent stock, and customer service that doesn't angrily glare at you when you ask about a product. Considering the way the beer distributors run their businesses, I'm afraid of the liquor stores falling into the same problems.

Recommendations for quality beer distributors in Allegheny County are also welcome.

[Craziaskowboi]

No competition. The state of Pennsylvania runs all the stores.

[Tirade]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

No competition. The state of Pennsylvania runs all the stores.

The only stores the state runs are the liquor stores. The beer distributors are all privately owned.

[Scott2187]

The two that I've gone to the most and seem to be OK are Save More on the hill going down to the Homestead-Gray's bridge, and the one on 10th st in the Southside.

The one on Semple in Oakland always angered me. The one on 18th in the Southside had some of the rudest people I've dealt with.

[ditchdigger]

Only yinzers drink beer by the case. The high class clientele are all buying champagne at the state stores, or microbrews on tap somewhere.

(The above is mostly idle speculation with a heavy dose of sarcasm, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's a grain of truth to it...)

[greg42]

You'd think there would be some competition in that, yeah, but I hear ya. The bottle shops are better, usually run by people interested in beer and have lots of selection, but it'll cost more. I haven't been shopping around for better because I just don't buy beer by the case myself. But when I've been in a distributor (sometimes my dad buys some Straub to take back home for buddies, or very occasionally with someone else) they're generally as you describe.

Places I haven't been but I have heard before mentioned as better:

Vecenie in Millvale Vecenie's Distributing Company, providing beer for the Pittsburgh area since 1933 Seems even to pass the web site test! And looks like they have up to date event stuff on Facebook.

McBroom's in Regent Square McBroom Beer Distributor in Pittsburgh PA number one distributor of specialty and imported beers exclusive to western pennsylvania (no proper web site that I found so far)

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by Scott2187

The two that I've gone to the most and seem to be OK are Save More on the hill going down to the Homestead-Gray's bridge, and the one on 10th st in the Southside.

The one on Semple in Oakland always angered me. The one on 18th in the Southside had some of the rudest people I've dealt with.

YES!, that one on 18th street in the SouthSide is the worst. I've only been there twice and both times it was as if it was the biggest chore in the world to wait on me.

The one on 10th street actually seem nice enough & they have gotten all of my business since they opened. Prior to that, I would drive anywhere in the city to avoid that other one in the southside even though its only 3 blocks from me.

Someone is putting a new large distributor in the southside on about 21st St where the old T&T hardware was (I was sad to see that place go), which im my opinion is a poor choice of use for that location, but at least purports to be having a huge selection, have to wait & see what the service is like.

I just hope between the 2 other southside distributors now that the one on 18th st goes under.

[Kippy]

While it is not in Alleghey County, and it has a lame name, Beer Arena in Greensburg/Hempfield is great. Friendly employees, huge, clean, and a large selection of standard and craft/microbrews.

I, too, rarely buy beer by the case. I usually pick up a six pack at my local pizza shop; great selection of microbrews, and you can mix and match to build your own sampler pack.

[Benzman66]

Duffys on Curry Hollow Road. Never had a problem and they are quite knowledgeable on their products.

[Tirade]

Originally Posted by Scott2187

The two that I've gone to the most and seem to be OK are Save More on the hill going down to the Homestead-Gray's bridge, and the one on 10th st in the Southside.

The one on Semple in Oakland always angered me. The one on 18th in the Southside had some of the rudest people I've dealt with.

The one on Semple is called Mellinger, and I've had an equally ****ty experience with them as well. There was a product I wanted that was listed on their website, and when I went to the store to go buy it, the employees had no idea what I was talking about. They weren't even aware that the store had a website, and they were also quite rude about it. Never going to that ****hole again.

Here's hoping Google picks up this post about Mellinger Beer Distributor in Pittsburgh so people can read about how ****ty that place is.

I've heard good things about the Save More from several people now, so I think I'll check it out next time I need to buy more beer. Thanks.