Business Profile: Beverage World, Peekskill
When you do right by your customers, your customers will do right by you. That is the lesson that Al Cardullo and his partner Ted learned along the way and something they have been very grateful for. It is the key to the success that has allowed them to now enter their 20th year of business.
As the owners of Beverage World, located at 1719 Main Street (Route 6) in Peekskill, the duo have gone out of their way to make their store a haven for beer lovers. It is open seven days a week; Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“When someone comes in and tells us about this great beer they had and ask us if we can find it for them, we do everything in our power to get it for them,” said Cardullo, who considers Beverage World a specialty beer store. “I have customers that come in and they have been out to the west coast and they have had the beer out there and want to know if I can get it. Then I start looking into it, I start going and asking my sales men if they know, how I can get this brand of beer or if they know who would have it. And if they don’t I will just use the internet like everyone else is doing.”
Cardullo cannot not get all the beers that are made west of the Mississippi, but he does his best to get what is available.
“The availability of other beers like Budweiser, Coors, Miller and the other big names is really easy for shoppers, so what we did was we got into having a diverse selection of craft beers and imported beers,” said Cardullo. “These craft beers are really exploding now. And we have got beer from in between 20-30 states in the store. We also have a large selection of imported German beers too.”
With the internet and the craft beer explosion, Cardullo has seen a dramatic increase in the number of educated people who are willing to pay the price for a good beer.
“I mean, what is good about the beer lover is that if he really is knowledgeable about the beer that’s out there, he knows, that its rare– some of the stuff we have is rare, and that’s it pricey and that he’s willing to pay the price,” said Cardullo. “ The normal Budweiser or Miller drinker may come in and say, ‘You know I’m sick of trying the everyday beer, the Bud, Miller, do you have something else?’ and they will walk down the aisle and look at these craft and go ‘Who the hell is paying $16. 99 for a six pack, they got to be out of their mind!’ They just do not understand.”
Cardullo, a Cortlandt Manor resident, goes out of his way for his customers because they have helped the business survive.
“We took a big hit back in the December of ‘04 when the shopping center burned to the ground and we were the only store that was left,” said Cardullo. “We survived because of our customer base and the loyalty that have to us and we appreciate that.”
To find out if Beverage World has your favorite beer, call 914-737-8375.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
