Everything you need to sell online

Set up an online store in minutes to sell on a website, social media, or marketplaces.

Pitcher Perfect: How a Beer Geek Turned an Idea into Two Locations and a Thriving Online Presence

8 min read

Happy Small Business Saturday, everyone!

The last Saturday in November celebrates small businesses and encourages people to shop at independent local stores instead of large retailers.

To celebrate Small Business Saturday, we’ve been sharing stories of Ecwid merchants every week this month.

First you read about Atlas46, a workwear manufacturer that turned a family-operated store to a seven-figure business. Then you met Kissed by a Bee, a cosmetics brand that has mastered multiple selling techniques at the same time: website sales, through social media sales, and good old in-person sales. You checked out Cecilia’s Steel jewelry brand, run by a designer that turned her passion into a business, all by herself.

Today we wrap up our Small Business Saturday series with a story of The Beer Cellar. It’s a craft beer store run by Dave Hawley, a beer geek who couldn’t find a store dedicated to craft beer in his city. So he decided to start his own!

How to sell online
Tips from e-commerce experts for small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Please enter a valid email address

Idea Turned into a Business Plan

Dave came up with the idea for his store after visiting the City Beer Store in San Francisco. At that time, there were no craft beer stores around the Chicagoland area where he lived, so Dave decided to open one himself. He came home excited about the concept and started to write out his business plan immediately.

He spent some time tweaking his business plan and saving money until the right opportunity came: a chance for him to open his first physical store. Roughly a year after his trip to San Francisco, Dave got laid off from his day job, which felt to him like the perfect opportunity to dive headlong into his fledgling store, The Beer Cellar.

Growing the Store and the Team

In 2014, Dave opened the first Beer Cellar — in a basement beneath a women’s boutique. Two years later, the business moved to a new location in Glen Ellyn — a space twice as big as the first. The team also decided to step up the shopping experience for their customers. They incorporated draft beer sales into the store, so that customers could have a drink while they shopped or even stop by for a drink with friends.


The patio of the The Beer Cellar location in Glen Ellyn

The business continued to grow and in 2019, Dave opened a new location in Geneva. Just a year later the Glen Ellyn store took over the lease of the suite next door, allowing opportunity for even more expansion.


The Beer Cellar location in Geneva

Business growth like this wouldn’t be possible without a great team of employees. Dave and Lauren Hawley are Beer Cellar’s owners, and both also work behind the scenes to make sure their brand continues to be a leader in the industry. The rest of the team is like family: their Geneva store’s beer buyer, Matt Piper, has been with the team for five years now. The Glen Ellyn location’s beer buyer, Ben Morgan, has been with them for just over a year.

The Beer Cellar is a staple of the local community and attracts people from all walks of life. While we focus on providing the suburbs with the freshest craft beer available, we also curate a great selection of wine and spirits.Dave Hawley, the owner of The Beer Cellar

The Challenges of Being a Small Business Owner

Dave believes that as a business owner, it is his job to take on the challenges that each day present.

Challenges are a part of everyday life and as a business owner you cannot run away from them, you have to embrace them and provide solutions as best you can.Dave Hawley, the owner of The Beer Cellar

As Dave puts it, to handle challenges as a business owner, you have to be resourceful and know your limitations. He thinks you can accomplish a lot when you utilize the resources the world has to offer.

I would not identify as a “handy” person, but you will go bankrupt very quickly if you have to hire someone to fix everything for you.Dave Hawley, the owner of The Beer Cellar

Going Online

When Dave decided to take the business online, he chose Ecwid E-Commerce because of their integration with Shopkeep’s POS. He felt that the learning curve was quick and easy, and the owners were able to get their new e-commerce site to generate revenue overnight.


An Ecwid store of The Beer Cellar in Glen Ellyn

They used Ecwid’s Instant Site to set up two online stores: one for the Geneva store and another one for the Glen Ellyn location.

I am not a website developer and had no real way to bring my products online at both stores until I was able to utilize Ecwid. It allowed us to pivot in a simple way and continue to generate revenue. This week we just hit 15K orders since COVID-19 crippled our retail channel in March.Dave Hawley, the owner of The Beer Cellar

Dave says that the Ecwid Mobile app has been a huge asset to the team. The best thing is that the staff can work on different projects within their e-commerce store simultaneously.

I often have two-four employees working at any given time and they can all use the app on their phone.Dave Hawley, the owner of The Beer Cellar

Social media also helps Dave and the team to sell and promote their products online. They post new products when they arrive to let customers know what to expect when they go online or in-store to shop.


A team member working at the Glen Ellyn store

Formula for Success

Clearly, Dave knows the secrets of turning a small idea into a thriving business. Being a small business owner isn’t always easy, but with the right team, dedication, and being open to changes, one can make it all work.

Just keep grinding. Build relationships both professionally and personally and listen to new ideas.Dave Hawley, the owner of The Beer Cellar

To read more Ecwid merchants success stories, and pick up some tips and tricks, check out the Success Stories section on the blog.

If you’d like to give a shoutout to any small business you know, feel free to share a couple of words and the link to their store in the comments. And keep local businesses in mind when shopping for gifts this year!

Table of contents

Sell online

With Ecwid Ecommerce, you can easily sell anywhere, to anyone — across the internet and around the world.

About the author

Kristen is a сontent creator at Ecwid. She finds inspiration in sci-fi books, jazz music, and home-cooked food.

Ecommerce that has your back

So simple to use – even my most technophobic clients can manage. Easy to install, quick to set up. Light years ahead of other shop plugins.
I’m so impressed I’ve recommended it to my website clients and am now using it for my own store along with four others for which I webmaster. Beautiful coding, excellent top-notch support, great documentation, fantastic how-to videos. Thank you so much Ecwid, you rock!
I’ve used Ecwid and I love the platform itself. Everything is so simplified it’s insane. I love how you have different options to choose shipping carriers, to be able to put in so many different variants. It’s a pretty open e-commerce gateway.
Easy to use, affordable (and a free option if starting off). Looks professional, many templates to select from. The App is my favorite feature as I can manage my store right from my phone. Highly recommended 👌👍
I like that Ecwid was easy to start and to use. Even for a person like me, without any technical background. Very well written help articles. And the support team is the best for my opinion.
For everything it has to offer, ECWID is incredibly easy to set up. Highly recommend! I did a lot of research and tried about 3 other competitors. Just try ECWID and you'll be online in no time.

Your ecommerce dreams start here

By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
Your Privacy

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. More information

More information

Strictly Necessary Cookies (Always active)
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources, so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies, we will not know when you have visited our site.