Looking for a New Challenge?

Hello, it’s Ben, the owner of the Wine and Hop Shop. I wanted to give you an update on the status of the Shop.

We still haven’t found a new owner, I’m sad to say. To put it bluntly, we’re running out of time to keep the Shop alive. As it stands, we need to be out of the building at the end of February. If we don’t find someone willing to take on owning and operating the Shop real soon, our last day will be in February.

I’d still love to find someone to hand the Shop to, and I have a lot to offer the new owner:

A fair selling price. It’s more important to me that the Shop lives on than I get a big payout.
All historical financial information so you can make an informed decision.
Flexible purchase terms. There are different ways we could work this, including:

Straight up sale (a discount would be given for this option)
Owner financed (you pay me incrementally over time, but have ownership immediately)
Work-to-own (you work for a salary for a set amount of time earning equity, taking over duties in sequence, then at the end of that time you own the Shop with little-to-no out-of-pocket payments)
Open to other ideas.

All signage, inventory, supplies, shelving, customer information, vendor relationships, coolers, etc. would be included in the sale.
I’ve scouted what I think would be a good location for the Shop to move to that would save at least $18,000 / year, have better parking, a loading dock, etc. And I can help with the move!
A list of the many ways I think you can improve both the operations and bottom line of the Shop moving forward.
Training on and assistance with the point of sale system, website, bookkeeping, and day-to-day operations of the Shop.
Good relationships with vendors and contacts with them so you can get more insight on the industry to help make your decision.
I really do want the Shop (and the next owner) to succeed, so I would act as an advisor for a while at no charge if that would help you get you on your feet.

We will continue operations as normal for now, but if we are unable to find a new owner by December 15th, we will shift to more of a liquidation / going out of business model. We will still operate, give free advice, great service, and be looking for a new owner during that time, but our focus will shift more towards selling off inventory vs keeping everything stocked.

If you have any questions, please reach out to me at ben.feifarek@gmail.com to get a conversation going.

Thank you for your support. Working at and running the Shop for these 20+ years has been one of the joys of my life. Fingers crossed this is not the end of the Shop’s story…