Bottle and vapor shop special to Cedar Park

Brandon Hamrick's wife was nine months pregnant when the couple purchased a corner store on Cypress Creek Road in November 2011. Renovations to convert the convenience store into a craft beer, wine and vapor shop had to coincide with an expanding family.

To keep up with his new business, Hamrick commuted to Cedar Park from the couple's home in Bastrop daily for several weeks but soon realized his family needed to be together more often. He converted the shop's back storeroom into living quarters, replacing the mop sink with a shower and cleaning supplies with a sleeping cot. His wife, Heather, and infant son, Race, joined him a few weeks later.

"My son, he literally grew up in a convenience store," Hamrick said. "My wife quit her job and I stopped doing what I was doing, and we dumped all of our money and time and effort into this. That's what it takes to run a small business if you really want it."

The Hamricks sold their home and now live elsewhere in Cedar Park, operating the store with help from a handful of friends and family members. Hamrick said his dedication is mirrored by the craft breweries and local wineries he supports in his shop. The market offers more than 500 varieties of beer from throughout Texas and the U.S., as well as more than 200 different wines.

"I don't like big corporations, and I despise Bud[weiser], Miller and Coors because they've dominated and pushed out the smaller breweries," he said. "We strive to support the little guys and have the newest and most hard-to-get beer. That's one thing we really want to be known for."

Employees at the "mom and pop bottle shop," as Hamrick calls it, work one-on-one with customers to help them discover new brews or the perfect wine, in addition to vapor products. Patrons can drink at one of the tables on-site or take bottles home to enjoy. The west side of the shop near the ATM also has a drive-thru window.

"We know with small children, it is a pain in the crank just to come in for a beer, soda or wine. It's time-consuming," Hamrick said. "Anything that you can get when you walk inside the store, you can get through the drive-thru."

Electronic cigarettes and vapor liquid sales comprise a large portion of Hamricks business as well, he said. The success of Vapor Solutions, a subcompany of Hamricks within the Cedar Park store, persuaded him to open vapor stores in both Kerrville and Bastrop.

"A lot of people want to be healthier, but they don't want to completely quit smoking because they enjoy it. They just don't want all the carcinogenic effects," Hamrick said.

Dedicated patron Olin Reynolds said the e-cigarettes can help smokers quit, but many customers also like to try different flavors of vapor liquid and buy accessories.

"Going from smoking a cigarette to one of these, most of the time you're doing it to cut down on the crap that's in cigarettes," he said. "It seems like everybody wants to go to a cigarette taste, but there are a lot more flavors than that."

Owner's picks

Store owner Brandon Hamrick said he has tried every beer in the shop to better recommend drinks to customers. All beers are sold by the bottle (pictured in slideshow) as well as in four- or six-packs, and can be drunk on-site

Hamricks Market, 401 Cypress Creek Road, Cedar Park, Ste. 100, 512-250-5100, Facebook: Hamricks Market, Mon.–Thu. 9 a.m.–11 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 9 a.m.–midnight, Sun. noon–9 p.m.