Binny's Beverage Depot

mynie

Indiana

1.6/5  rDev -58.7%
quality: 1 | service: 1 | selection: 3 | $$

My friend and I brought my little cousin into this place last afternoon. I'm visiting the area and had heard good things about Binny's selection and since my friend and I were both over 21 I figured they wouldn't mind if we brought a ten year old girl with us into the store. We were effective guardians, after all, and it's not like this was a strip club. It's one of those chain liquor stores that tries its best to convey a sterile, family-friendly atmosphere.

Nice selection but nothing that impressive. I grabbed a few bottles and headed up to the counter. I got carded, fine. My friend got carded, even though he wasn't buying the booze (which is a retarded retail practice), but he's over twenty-one so it's fine. Then they asked my little cousin for her ID. Let me repeat that: they asked a ten-year-old girl for an ID. Of course, being a small child she didn't have any proper identification with her, and so my patronage was refused.

Easily the worst beer-buying experience I've ever had. The kids working the counter were cocky little pricks, and not allowing me to buy beer because I had a small child with me who was so young as to not have been in any way interested in drinking is fucking retarded. Bad business, plain and simple, and I will never even consider shopping there again.

03-13-2005 20:23:58 | More by mynie

DoubleSimcoe

New York

3.36/5  rDev -13.2%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | $$$

My second Binny's in one day, and I already got a store card and found some goodies!

This one is right next to my relative's house, which is cool and convenient for a beer run while I'm staying around Naperville. A gigantic store, with a million wines, good selection of bourbons, spirits, a cigar humidor and the beer, of course!

First thing I found beer-wise was an interesting "sale shelf", with well-priced Mikkeller, Nils Oscar Imperial Stout, Belgians and other stuff. I got a weird oak-aged porter from an obscure American craft for $2.99.

Then there is a shelf for Belgians, another one for quality European imports (including more Mikkeller, plus some Harvest ales) and a long shelf with 6- and 4-packs of all the American micros you can imagine, with an emphasis on Midwest beers like Boulevard, O'Fallon, Lakefront, Sprecher and New Holland.

Overall, though, I was not too impressed. Lots of beer but no excitement. No rarities, no aged goodies, no surprises like the Abacus and Parabola I found at the Binny's Express in Hyde Park. In fact I had to refrain myself there thinking I would buy a lot here in Naperville but that was not the case. I left with only two small bottles.

Service and price are very Binny's. No help offered, ridiculously high prices (except for the occasional sale). Beer and bourbon are more expensive than in New York City!

A good store, but when in the area, I will always choose Malloy's over this Binny's.

09-01-2011 01:23:05 | More by DoubleSimcoe

cubbyswans

Missouri

3.4/5  rDev -12.1%
quality: 4 | service: 2 | selection: 4 | $$

My brother lives near here, so I was anxious to find some beers that are not available where I live. Overall a pretty good selection. Lots of German, Belgian, and American craft choices to pick from here.

Some of the beers, however, I started to look at, and then put back on the shelf when I noticed the layer of dust on them. One IPA said "enjoy by 9/10/08". And this was on 9/07/08. If I was drinking it then and there, probably wouldn't have bothered me, but I was taking this home and it might be a few weeks before I get to it, so never mind. I was hoping to find a Rogue Double Dead Guy here, but I'm a little more excited to find the Three Floyds Dreadnaught. I was tripping over cases of Oktoberfests and pumpkin beers.

As far as customer service, I wandered around for a good half hour in here deciding what to pick up, and never got one "May I help you" or "finding everything OK?". Walked past two employees sitting there talking to each other at least 6 or 7 times without a glance from them. Not sure what their purpose in the store was.

All in all, I've been to better beer stores, but for the area this place is in, this is THE place to go if you want something that's not a macro blah beer. I went to three liquor stores and a grocery store the night before and the ONLY decent beer to be found anywhere else was Goose Island Honkers. Next time I'm spending the weekend at my brother's I'll definitely be back here. Just remember what David Lee Murphy said. "There might be a little dust on the bottle". caveat emptor!

09-08-2008 19:55:30 | More by cubbyswans

crossovert

Wisconsin

3.44/5  rDev -11.1%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $$$

This Binny's is in a strip mall. It definitely feels like one of the smaller ones on the inside. The beer selection here is not as expansive as other Binny's. I found that odd.

They did have a nice" discount" rack but the seasonal rack didn't have anything good on it really. They also have the mix 6er. The import selection is really small for a Binny's.

Didn't get any employee contact.

Overall this store isn't the greatest Binny's out there. It is interesting to see that there really are some poorer Binnys out there. This one and the McHenry one seem to have the weakest selection of the ones I have been too. It still is a great selection though.

06-10-2012 02:18:24 | More by crossovert

orbitalr0x

Illinois

3.5/5  rDev -9.6%
quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $$$

Stopped in here today while I was in the area. The main store has the pretty normal mundane liquor store feel to it...nothing really going on. The beer is located in the back corner..which is nice because it's away from the windows. There is a long wall of micro six packs ranging from Anchor to Dogfish to Great Lakes and most other midwest brews. Apart from this there are two long shelves of imports and a clearance rack. Overall, there is nothing too out of the ordinary..however the single bottle import selection is quite large.

The service was really non-existant...I didn't see anyone on the floor for the 20 minutes I was wandering around. Not that it is neccesary for myself..but it's always nice to be greeted by someone. I was able to pick up a bottle of Achel 8 for $2.99 on sale...which I thought was a pretty good deal. However, the prices are a bit on the high side compared to most other stores in the suburbs.

Overall, I'd say this Binny's is not a bad stop if you're in the area..but I wouldn't go out of my way to get there.

05-15-2005 23:33:17 | More by orbitalr0x

joe1510

Illinois

3.5/5  rDev -9.6%
quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $$$

Of the few Binnys I've been to (and still visit regularly) this is probably the least desireable. There was no one around for any help in searching something out. The beer section was scattered and not at all organized. A lot of the bottles were dusty and not very well kept. There was a nice shelf of bombers that was probably the strongest point of the entire store. Unfortunately, the prices were still above normal even with the poor organization and lack of help which brought the ratings down on this Binny's.

The other Binny's I've been to have ranged from good stores to high quality stores. This one just left me wanting more. I wouldn't stop by here again unless I was driving by.

11-05-2007 05:42:17 | More by joe1510

akokandy

Illinois

3.6/5  rDev -7%
quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Binny's has a pretty good selection of craft/specialty beers, but is definitely more of a wine/liquor store. They have 2 aisles of beer out of about 18 aisles in the store. They have the best selection I've seen in Naperville though. The salespeople can always find the things I'm looking for, which was key the first few times I went there because their store is kind of hard to navigate. My problem with the store is that the beer I get there is consistently past its freshness date. Some of the Goose Island I've gotten there, which should be consumed within 110 days, I bought when it was 7 months old. A pretty good store, but make sure you check the dates. Or just buy stuff that can be aged. Usually the prices are within a dollar of Sam's, so it's a pretty good value.

01-15-2009 00:00:56 | More by akokandy

SpdKilz

Illinois

3.64/5  rDev -5.9%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $$

So, this was the first Binny’s stop of the day for me. I went here on a tip they had BA Naked Evil, but alas, they did not. My fault for not calling first.

I’m surprised it has taken me this long to actually go to this Binny’s. I swear I had been on my way there a few times when something came up and I had to go elsewhere. Anyway, I finally get here and start looking over their beer selection. After a few minutes the beer guy comes up and I ask him if he had the beer (obviously he says no) and then I ask a few other questions about beer, all of which he did not have.

The place is pretty clean, though it has lower ceilings, is a bit dark, and just is not the same experience as going to my local Glen Ellyn Binny’s. The beer selection is relatively small, few coolers, and there was nothing that made it stand out. To be honest, I don’t really think I’d be back here in the future unless something else brings me to the area. Many better examples out there.

10-13-2011 00:01:27 | More by SpdKilz

FosterJM

California

3.64/5  rDev -5.9%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $$

Was staying in Naperville for work, so took the hotel shuttle over.

Atm- Large strip mall location which looks expansive from the outside, but alas is not as large on the inside. Semi- well lit. A few coolers in the back and most bottles open on the shelves.

Quality- Had a few nice things, but didnt have a lot of quality in the house. Missing some heavy hitters from the local regional markets. Couldve been an off day but I was able to find Boon Marraige Parfait, so didnt have to order online, that was a plus.

Service- Very helpful. Even allowed me to sign up for Binnys savings card, even though not from the area. Helpful on an exchange as well.

Selection- Pretty let down by this one, but did find a couple things that were nice. B.Nektar, New Holland, Boon. Was dissapointed heavily in the mixed 6 packs. Really shitty selection on that.

Food- N/A

08-21-2012 15:18:18 | More by FosterJM

zjungleist

Illinois

3.65/5  rDev -5.7%
quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | $$$

Located in an average strip mall, this liquor store had the atmosphere of an ordinary grocery store. I was nearly dissapointed when I saw the coolers, which were about half the size of my local store. It actually took a little bit of searching to find the beer shelves. And once I found those, I was nearly dissapointed again, because I thought there was only a modest selection of mirco/import 6packs. But after even more searching, I finally found all the beer in the store, and I do have to say the selection was a bit impressive. The draw back is that it's not intuitive to find it all. You could easily miss an aisle or two. It was somewhat well organized, with the previously mentioned section for sixers, an area for imported bombers, an area for mirco bombers, and an area for belgain style ales and lambics. Other than a good beer selection, there was of course wine and liquor, a special wine cellar for the pricey bottles, a walk in cigar humidor, and a little deli. There were two pretty sizable drawbacks to this place, though. One being price, which I found to be a little high on items I am familiar with. The other being quality, and the reason I say so is because... I found a number of beers that I knew to be out of season. After seeing that, I was sure to only buy beers that had
"bottled on" dates. Overalll, I'd go back if I was in the area, but I won't be going out of my way.

05-09-2006 22:35:34 | More by zjungleist