Southport Magazine

We had  a chane to connect with Dewayne and Brittany Hedrick at the Southport Tap and Cellar to talk about how they are making the best it. We spoke to them for a Cheers column when they first opened a year ago, and found ourselves inspired by their continued can-do spirit.

How have you adapted your business to the new rules? How have you been able to utilize social media or other technology  to keep your customers engaged? 

Since we’ve lost the bar business we’ve really pushed the retail side of our shop by adding delivery and online sales. Social media has also been an extremely useful tool in letting people know about our new products and the new ways in which we are doing business. I highly recommend any local business use all social media outlets as much as possible. 

How have you come up with strategies? Brainstorming? Advice from others in a similar business?  

Mostly it’s been a discussion my wife and I as well as input from our employee Rose Hunt. We’ve also looked at other bottle shops in bigger cities and seen how they have adapted. 

What did you learn while starting your business that has helped you to weather this?

The biggest thing we’ve learned is to adapt and overcome any situation that may arise. We’ve learned early on that even though you may think things are going to be one way they can easily change at the drop of the hat.  

What have you learned from this experience that will help you going forward? 

We’ve learned that there are lots of things that are beyond your control and learn to change your business accordingly. 

What’s been the hardest thing about this new way of doing business and how have you overcome it?

Besides the overall loss of revenue, it’s been very difficult not being able to directly interact with our customers. We’ve tried to overcome this by using social media for such things like continuing our Thursday Trivia Nights online using Zoom and even having virtual beer tastings through Facebook live.   

What has the support of the community been like? Have you been in touch with other business owners? 

The support of our local community has been overwhelming. We definitely could not have kept the doors open if it wasn’t for our locals. We owe a huge thanks to everyone that has supported us through this trying time. 

We have communicated with other local businesses to share what we’ve learned as well as learn from them. 

Feel free to add anything else you’d like to share or that you think would be important to people to understand.

The only thing we would like to add is that as a community we will get through this as long as we work together and support our small businesses.  

Visit the Southport Tap & Cellar at 827 N. Howe (the intersection of Howe and 9th)

Hours may change (as everyhting does nowadays) but they are usually open 2-7 pm each day

Find out about specials and the fun online trivia and beer tasting on their FaceBook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/southporttapandcellar