A barrel of fun: Barrel Brothers Liquor moves to new Pueblo location, doubles size
When Barrel Brothers Liquor opens inside a custom-built store at its new location Monday, owner Adam Felzien will cap an entrepreneurial journey that started when he was just 12 years old.
Located at 2716 S. Prairie Ave., the newly constructed building is twice the size of the previous liquor store on Pueblo Boulevard. With more elbow room, Felzien soon will be able to expand his inventory and offer additional products.
It is a dream come true for Felzien and his wife Kylie. They bought the liquor store 12 years ago and back then, Alicia Romero was hired as their first employee.
Romero continues to work at Barrel Brothers Liquor and the staff has grown to 12 employees.
The first brotherly business — mowing lawns
"I've known since I was in my early teens that I wanted to own my own business," Felzien said. "When I was 12 or 13 I started mowing lawns with my brother Jeremy and we built a trailer we could pull behind our bikes so we could move lawnmowers around the neighborhood."
"It's been in my blood for a long time," he said. "My parents always told me if I want something, work hard. And their words have not fallen short."
Felzien's dad Clarence is a distributor for Bon Appetit Bakery who serves 80 retailers. His mom worked 30 years at Captain D's.
"They are both go-getters," he said.
After graduating South High School in 2002, he started college at Colorado State University Pueblo where he majored in civil engineering because he was good at math and science.
"One day I woke up and said, 'I can't do this for the rest of my life.' So I switched majors to business management," he said.
Out of college, Felzien worked at O'Reilly Auto Parts starting out at the counter and working his way up to territory manager. He was headed for yet another promotion to district manager when a liquor store, Kum and Go, at 2815 W. Pueblo Blvd., came up for sale.
"I left my job and bought the liquor store with my partner and brother Jeremy. That was 2011 and I was 27," he said.
A short time later, the brothers also purchased a carpet cleaning business, Spark Klean, and roped their brother-in-law Russ Sena into helping them run the businesses part time.
The Kum and Go name had to go when Kum & Go convenience store attorneys sent a cease and desist letter because the name was trademarked. That prompted the name change to Barrel Brothers Liquor.
Before long, the family dynasty started to grow. Jeremy Felzien bought his own store — Aspen Square Wine and Liquor — while Sena and his wife Ashley got their own liquor store, River Trail Liquor.
"We have downtown, the south side and the county covered," Felzien said with a laugh.
Why Barrel Brothers made the move
Barrel Brothers has managed positive sales growth every year with the exception of 2019, when sales were down a half of a percentage point as the result of a new law allowing grocery stores to start selling beer, Felzien said.
"Then came COVID and our numbers went up and we managed to see growth even after COVID. So I bought some land and put up the new building — it's 50% larger," he said.
Felzien said he feels blessed to have been able to become a business owner and grow the business. Store hours are 8 a.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.
More business expansion news: Pueblo West approves commercial water tap for Shah's Kabob & Gyro expansion
Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via X, formerlyTwitter, at twitter.com/tracywumps. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Barrel Brothers Liquor moves to new Pueblo location, doubles size
