I visited this particular Sam’s Wine & Spirits location on 11/12/2006 while visiting a friend in Chicagoland. This store is located right next to The Home Depot and has a huge parking lot in the front. The store is farily large, but probably only half the size of the the main Chicago Sam’s Wine & Spirits! They have tons of wine and a pretty good selection of American micros and craft beers as well as imports. Most of the micros/craft beers are 6-packs/4-packs only unless it comes in a 22 oz or 750 mL bottle. No 12 oz singles are really available unless it is an import or in the "bargain bin". Lots of rare and regional-only stuff available. Overall the store is bright, clean, well stocked, and there are people around to help.

12/14/07: New beer mgr, Travis, seems to have made an immediate positive impact. There are quite a few new selections from what was a fairly stagnant selection all year plus seemingly more available in singles. New to the store are 3 new Mikkeller brews: X, Black Hole & Santa’s Little Helper. 1/1/07: Went on New Year’s eve around 5pm and the non-cooler American craft beer shelves were quite picked over. I still managed to find some surprises, like Three Floyds Munsterfest, which I didn’t even know existed. The Belgian section was more extensive than my local Binny’s, which is no small feat. I have to imagine that when it’s fully stocked, this is an impressive beer store. I also get the feeling that there’s a pretty decent chance they’ll be doing a cheese, wine or beer tasting when you’re there, so that’s always a bonus. I didn’t even realize how close this place was to my house it will now compete with Binny’s for my business.

After numerous trips to the Clybourn location, I finally made it over to Downer’s Grove. AMBIANCE: Warehouse style store with an impressive selection of wines and scotches. The cheese selection at this Sam’s is also well chosen. SERVICE: Asked several times if I was in need of help. Sam’s is always top knotch in this regard. SELECTION: The website details this nicely. I appreciated seeing all of the Lees barrel aged harvest ales, a fine selection of lambics, and other Belgians. FOOD: Again, cheese selection is excellent. OVERALL: NIce store, and a better layout than Clybourn.

Big wharehousy feel. Lots of beer, wine, and spirits. Staff seems ok. Went to a beer and cheese tasting here - very informative. Lots of selection - but expensive. Can sometimes find things here that aren’t elsewhere. (Dieu du Ciel, for instance)

It’s a bit far for me, but has the largest selection of beers that I know of, including in the cooler. Service is a bit sketchy, though, and the prices are correspondingly high. Oh well.

Best selection I have found in my area by far with a nice clean store and logical layout. Beers are nicely labelled by geography, and while I have heard the staff talking to each other and they sounded educated about beer no one has ever asked me if I needed help so I’m not enamored with the service as of yet. Nice store.

Basically a mirror image of its sister store in Chicago, except in the ugly burbs. Same great selection, decent prices, and average to poor service (with beer at least). More singles. More space in the aisles.

I like the feel of this sam’s better than the one in Chicago, plus, their beer selection looks cooler. They have most anything that the other sam’s has, but less traffic and less hassle. I prefer this sam’s, personally.

Ya know I like this place, sure it isnt the downtown version but they still have a lot of stuff that you cant find anywhere else in this area. One more nice thing... when the downtown store is out of something, check or call here. Many times I have found westy 12, once even dark lord AND DDCPM.

Not quite as large as the Sam’s in Chicago, but has the same warehouse look. More imports than micros here, and, of course, one still can’t split up a sixer. Still, there’s plenty to be had at reasonable prices.