Site posts local liquor store prices for residents

Alcohol-savvy students strapped for cash may now have a solution to the question of how much money is needed for the weekend’s alcoholic beverages.
The liquor store information Web site CampusBeer.com was recently launched to give users a list of local liquor stores near campus and provide them with the store’s hours of operation, a list of their inventory, prices and a map of their location.
The site was designed in order to help cash-starved college students decide what spirits they can afford for that night’s festivities and when these decisions have to be made, said Web site founder Mike Birnbaum.
“When I was in college, we were always sitting around and wanted to know what stores were open,” said Birnbaum, who graduated in 2007 from the University of Delaware.
He said they wanted to know the deals because for parties, every dollar counts.
The site, which is in the early stages of development and only covers the areas of four New Jersey universities, allows users to know of any specials a liquor store may have, Birnbaum said.
The site contains information on liquor stores around Rider University, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, The College of New Jersey and Thomas Edison State College, according to the site.
“I wanted [CampusBeer.com] to have all the answers,” Birnbaum said. “I wanted it to only have to be one place to look for everything.”
Liquor stores are able to post their information on CampusBeer.com, which essentially gives stores the opportunity to advertise to college students free of charge, he said.
“We got involved because [Birnbaum] had an idea and showed me and my partner [what] we thought was interesting,” said Scarlet Knights Liquor Sales Inc. owner Mark VanBurik. “It comes at no cost and it is free advertising so we said, ‘Sure, why not?’”
Originally, Birnbaum launched the site at his alma mater while still in school as a trial run. The site spread through word-of-mouth and Birnbaum learned that his peers loved it, he said.
After the success of the site at the University of Delaware, Birnbaum decided to spread the site starting in his home state of New Jersey, where many of the friends from home were attending college, he said.
“After the first day’s launch, we had to start from scratch and make it simple to use for users and liquor store owners,” Birnbaum said. “It took just a few months and I went back to talking to new stores and now we’re in the stage of expanding.”
Although the site is still in its primitive stages, the concept of having a local liquor store guide that provides information to customers before they have to make a trip hits home with School of Arts and Sciences sophomore Brendan Sternberg.
“The best thing about the site is that it tell us what stores have the best deals,” Sternberg said. “With money being such a big issue, it’s good to know who has the best deals without having to waste time and gas driving around to all the different stores.”
Birnbaum said he hopes to add all of the New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York schools to the site.
The initial success of the site and its appeal to college students should be a good indicator for CampusBeer.com’s future, he said.
“It started off as a hobby of mine and it’s become a passion,” Birnbaum said. “It’s an innovative idea I came up with, and I want to see where it goes from here.”