I will be at the largest liquor store conference and trade show in the United States

The largest liquor store conference and trade show in the United States is happening July 18th-July 20th 2026 in San Antonio, Texas. I will be at Booth # 551. Stop by, say "hi", take a look at the latest in liquor store point of sale technology, and pick up a free box cutter!

The End of Heartland LiquorPOS?

 

Rumors about Heartland dropping their LiquorPOS product have been around for 2 years now. Recently, several Heartland team members have shared privately that a formal announcement about the end of LiquorPOS could be coming shortly.

So, what does that mean for liquor stores who currently use LiquorPOS in their stores? Like other software programs that have gone "end of life" (like Windows 10 and Microsoft Dynamics RMS Store Operations point of sale), we need to look at the most likely outcome and recommended actions that should be taken.

Likely outcomes:

1. Heartland just flat out discontinues LiquorPOS. There will likely be a end of life support period of up to one year to allow users of LiquorPOS to find new point of sale (POS) software.
2. Heartland sells LiquorPOS to another company. This introduces more questions than answers regarding support, software updates, who can offer merchant services with LiquorPOS,  and, if the new company has their own POS solution, will LiquorPOS users have to migrate to a new POS system?
3. Heartland returns LiquorPOS to the original owner. LiquorPOS was originally not a Heartland product so it is possible that the original team behind LiquorPOS may take it back from Heartland. While this would provide a clearer support path, questions still remaining regarding updates to the software, ongoing support costs, and options for integrated merchant service.

Recommended Actions:

1. Ride it out and see what happens. Pretty big gamble and very high risk to not have a plan should outcome #1 happen. Do you have the time, energy and budget to find a new POS system under a deadline? Would at least doing some pre-planning be smart from a business perspective?
2. Watchful waiting but have a plan in place so you are ready to pull the trigger regarding any of the likely outcomes.
3. Take action now and not have to deal with waiting on any of the possible outcomes (none of the possible outcomes sound all that great anyway given the age and lack of recent updates to LiquorPOS). 

If you are in the Recommended Actions Options #2 and #3 camp:

Start searching now for a liquor store specific POS system. Liquor store specific means that the POS system has all of the unique features and functions that liquor stores require like the following (you can use the list below as a checklist and then zero in on the top 3 candidates to get demos and proposals):

1. Age Verification
2. Parent/Child or Case/Lot Inventory Tracking
3. Deal Planner and Bridge Buying
4. Supplier Integration
5. FinTech Integration
6. Restock Rocket
7. Smart Alerts
8. State Specific Sales Tax (especially if you are in a state with a spirit volume tax)
9. State Specific Reports  
10. Bottle Deposits
11. Wholesale Functions and State Specific Wholesale Reporting
12. POS is Designed ONLY for Beer, Wine and Liquor Stores 
13. Delivery Integrations (if allowed in your state)
14. Product Ranking
15. Dog Inventory Reporting
16. Physical Inventory Count Module
17. Keg Rentals (if you do this)
18. THC Product Sale Compliance  
19. Shelf Tag/Price Tag Printing
20. 24/7 Support
21. Supplier Purchase Planning
22. Multi-Store Capabilities (if you own multiple liquor stores) 
23. Market Basket Reporting
24. Customer Loyalty Program and Gift Cards (of allowed by state law)
25. Role Based Security (keep control over what your employees can and can't do) 

 

 

 

 

Should I accept PIN debit in my store?

 A common question that retailers ask me is if it makes sense to accept PIN debit in my store or should I run debit cards as credit cards?

• PRO: Extra Security
• CON: Slows down the lines
• FACT: Can’t use with Dual Pricing 
• FACT: Cost is about the same for PIN Debit versus running debit cards as credit cards (typical $35 transaction = ~$.70 for PIN debit versus ~$.77 for debit run as credit)

With the Durban Amendment,  there is a "breakeven" point right around $35 in transaction size where it makes sense to accept PIN debit if the average transaction amount in your store is over $35.

The reality is that you have to decide for yourself based on what is best for your business.

 

 

 

Result of meetings with multiple liquor stores in Oklahoma last week

 What a blessing to be able to meet with the owners, managers and staff at over 31 liquor stores in Oklahoma last week! Most of them use the Cloud Retailer Liquor POS software in their stores and they all had a lot of positive things to say about Cloud Retailer.  Here are a few pictures that I took:

 

 Aside from the feedback on Cloud Retailer, we discussed a larger variety of topics like YoY sales data, THC, marketing, dual pricing, and the Oklahoma ABLE Commission.

If I missed getting chance to meet with you, please let me know via my personal email (kevinantosh@gmail.com) - I'm sure that I can make another trip to Oklahoma if enough liquor stores express interest in meeting with me! 

Cheers! 

 

I am at the Colorado Independent Liquor Store Event!

 The annual Colorado Independent Liquor Store golf event is today at Arrowhead Golf Club in Littleton, CO. Cloud Retailer is here as well! Stop by and say hello!

 

 

 

 

I am at the TPSA show in Texas!

 Quick note that I am at the annual Texas Package Store Association conference and trade show today and tomorrow in San Antonio, Texas. Be sure to stop by booth #250 for some free swag!

Liquor Stores: The RLAO Conference and Trade Show is TODAY!!!

 Liquor stores: a quick reminder that the Retail Liquor Association of Oklahoma trade show and conference is taking place TODAY at the Oklahoma City Convention Center! 

  Stop by to score some great deals on products, meet with vendors and suppliers, attend important conferences, and be sure to stop by booth # 536 to pick up some free swag from Cloud Retailer Liquor POS!

 

 

I will be at the RLAO trade show and conference in OKC

 Howdy! Just a quick note that I will be at the Retail Liquor Association of Oklahoma conference and trade show later this month. Plans are to spend a few days in the Oklahoma City area before and after the event if you want to meet with me in person.

 

 Call/Text me at 208-340-5632 or email kevinantosh@gmail.com to get something scheduled.

Point of Sale Pondering Named # 1 POS Blog Site

 I never knew that this basic blog site was so popular! Thanks for the folks at FeedSpot for the recognition!

Be sure to check out the resource list as well as the FeedSpot site in general: https://bloggers.feedspot.com/pos_blogs/

List of 2025 Liquor Store Conferences

 

Microsoft RMS Tablet has a cracked screen

So - while stepping off the shuttle bus at SeaTac, the strap on my laptop case broke. My tablet running Microsoft RMS now has a shattered screen. The tablet still works but my ability to offer any sort of RMS support will be very limited as I need to buy an external monitor at some point.

 If anyone wants to chip in $100 for an external monitor, please let me know and I can send you my cashapp information.

 

Celebrating 26 Years in the Industry

 I'm getting old - just surpassed 26 years of working with POS systems (plus the 14 years that I spent in retail and restaurant management). Contact me if you are in need of some general advice specific to POS systems or if you need a speaker for your next conference or trade show.

As retirement gets closer, I will likely cut back on travel and how often I post to this blog site. The site is close to hitting 2 million unique visitors so I may post less frequently once that 2 million number is surpassed.

 Lord willing, I will still keep the blog site up and running (even if I don't post that often) as I know that a lot of you are here for the older Microsoft RMS content.

 

 

 

 

2025 Travel Schedule

 Well, just when I thought that it was time to wind down on traveling so much, opportunities have come up that changed my mind!

For the first half of 2025, I will be headed to the following states:

• Washington State
• Oklahoma
• Texas
• Colorado

 Minnesota and Arkansas are pending as is Wisconsin.

Of course, Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon, Montana, Utah and Nevada are in the planning stages as well.

 Contact me at kevinantosh@gmail.com if you are interested in meeting in person or having me speak at an event or conference.

 

 

 

Microsoft RMS Support

 A quick note that I am still getting calls and emails regarding support for the Microsoft RMS point of sale software. I do have equipment running Microsoft RMS but that equipment is quite old.

 As long as the equipment keeps running, I will do my best to offer limited support for RMS. If it only takes 15 minutes to answer your support question, then the support is free.

 More in depth RMS support will be billed at an hourly rate of $79/hour.

 

 

Liquor Stores: Why sweetheart discounts are bad for business

 Want to learn more about preventing employee theft? Contact me at kevinantosh@gmail.com

Liquor Stores: New for 2025!

New benefit in using the Cloud Retailer Liquor Store POS Profit System!

 

Link to the free training and open office calendar https://helpdesk.cloudretailer.com/support/solutions/articles/67000716604-cloud-retailer-community-training-schedule-and-calendar

Why Clover POS does NOT work in liquor stores

 I have a free comparison guide showing why Clover POS does not work well in a liquor store. Please email me at kevinantosh@gmail.com for a free copy of the comparison guide.

Why Square POS does NOT work in a liquor store

 I have a PDF comparison guide showing why Square POS does NOT work in a liquor store. Please email me at kevinantosh@gmail.com for a free copy of the comparison guide.

Liquor of Liquor Store Associations in the United States

 Nice list of the various state and national liquor store associations in the United States (non control states only). Looks like UBRA in Arkansas was missed tho...

If there are any other liquor store associations missing from the list, please contact me at kevinantosh@gmail.com

Common Sense Advise for Retail Stores and Restaurants

 As travel season wraps up for 2024, I noticed some things missing from the hundreds of retail stores and restaurants that I visited with in person over the last year.

In no specific order, some common sense advice specific to things that every retail store and restaurant owner should be doing to help increase profits:

1. Have a website
2. Have active social media accounts (Instagram and Facebook are the most popular)
3. RESPOND TO ALL REVIEWS (Yelp. Google, etc - respond with a positively worded reply to all reviews)
4. Be part of an industry association specific to your "niche" or vertical
5. Comply with all state and local statutes when it comes to things like sales tax rates and age verification
6. Use/invest in technology that saves on labor costs
7. Take a look at newish trends like Dual Pricing - consumers are used to paying more when using a credit card so why are you still paying those payment processing fees?
8. If you are dead-set against Dual Pricing - at least shop around for better merchant services rates
9. Have signage that matches your business name (seriously - when the sign on the building doesn't match the actual business name, how are customers supposed to know that they are at the correct business?)
10. Keep the aisles clear so customers are not stepping over boxes to find what they are looking for
11. Use technology for inventory ordering - nothing more disappointing that dining at a restaurant where 1/3 of the menu is 86'd 

OK - what suggestions do you have that should be added to the list? Please send the suggestions to kevinantosh@gmail.com

Want me to swing by your retail store or restaurant to help advise on some way to increase profits or decrease expenses?  You can use the same email address to reach out to me.