Beer and wine sales in Ontario NF well kinda!

[Headhunter]

Well, according to the news outlets and The Star, it looks like Uncle Kattie and her cast of characters are going to be introducing Beer and Wine sales in major grocery stores. Apparently, it will be the cornerstone of the up coming budget. LCBO will still control spirits.

What do you guys think? Can they do this without screwing up?

HH

[snoil]

Of course they can't.Will be another mess.Leave it as is.If you can't get to a beer store of an LCBO outlet with the hours they have now you drink too much.

[Big Cliff]

While I am all for it, you can bet that if Whinnie the Poo is involved you might as well just bend over right now! I wonder who is making a huge contribution to someone in her family or party?

[AKRISONER]

turns out the major grocery companies have deeper pockets when it comes to lobbying than the beer store, thats what this comes down to, who offered up the most cash.

 

Im happy its going to happen, but it wont be "quebec style" aparently the licenses will be limited and of course that means sold to the highest bidder. Expect the major grocery retailers to cash in on this.

 

Its about friggin time though, how long were they going to let a government protected monopoly of multinational foreign companies control our beer?

 

I hope this means that independent brewers are now able to finally sell their product more openly.

 

 

Go ahead hate on Wynne all you want, cause she without a doubt is cashing in on this, but the overall concept still benefits us beer drinkers.

Edited March 13, 2015 by AKRISONER

[Headhunter]

7/11 has pretty deep pockets as well... is this just the start?

Can the micro-brewers really compete for shelf space with the Labatts and Molsons?

Interesting to see what happens.

HH

[crappieperchhunter]

I have a liquor store I can walk to and pass 2 Beer stores on the way to work. Plus I make my own wine. This will have zero effect on me with regard to added convenience. However if the new competition does anything to lower prices then in the end it is a good thing.

[FLEX ROD]

Lets hope that Costco gets involved in this, after seeing the selection and price in Arizona all that I can say cant happen soon enough.

 

John

[lew]

I never could understand why they won't allow booze in the corner stores while they allow beer booze & wine to be sold in some General Stores in the rural areas.

 

Just down the road from me on hwy 28 in Youngs Point there's a little General Store that carries all kinds of booze and it's only 10 minutes north of Lakefield where there's a Beer Store & a Liquor store. When they 1st allowed it alot of folks figured it'd be a target for thieves but as far as I know it's never happened yet.

 

And for something really dumb, there's a little tourist shop in town that has a display of wine produced by an independent maker over in Buckhorn. We were in there 2 years ago and my wife decided to buy a bottle but the owner said "sorry, but that's only coloured water in the bottles for display purposes only"

 

We had to decide what we wanted, then the store owner called the maker 10 miles away who then jumped in his car and delivered it to us.

 

We could pick the wine in the store, order it in the store, then pay for it in the store, but they can't sell it in the store.

 

I love Ontario but we've got some of the dopiest rules anywhere when it comes to the sale of booze.

Edited March 13, 2015 by lew

[crappieperchhunter]

 

 

I love Ontario but we've got some of the dopiest rules anywhere when it comes to the sale of booze.

That sums it up pretty good Lew. I agree 100%.

[Old Ironmaker]

We have a rural corner store that sells booze. Not the greatest selection but it beats driving the close to an hour return trip to the LCBO. The Beer Store is even farther. That at least was something done right by the province. The hours of operation are better than the LCBO too. Now if these changes will promote competition greater yet but I doubt it.

[manitoubass2]

When i lived in alberta, you could order a 24 for 32 bucks delivered to your door no extra charge, until 2am hahaha

[reelingMachine]

I wish it was done years ago.

I do not drink much But it is not clear to me why when I am buying food I cannot buy something I sometimes want to drink and have to spend extra time and fuel to get that.

[leaf4]

Sounds good but I wonder if there will be any effect on the price? I would think not, but it would be nice

[kickingfrog]

If people can't manage to get their drinks now, should we really make it easier?

 

I like to have a few too but we're not talking about a life essential.

 

And if it gets there, I wonder about guy working the night shift at the corner store dealing with the bozos looking for one more for the road.

[Canuck2fan]

I don't drink anymore so I could care less. The only booze I use is in cooking. I am always for more choice, but I can't for a moment believe it will benefit the micro breweries that much...

 

I say this because of smashing my head against the wall for a few years trying to get a grocery product listed into any major supermarket chain. The product was LIKED, by all the executives we sampled, met all the criterion for labeling. It had double the required product liability insurance, was produced under licence by a manufacturer that was already selling products in all the major chains so the distribution and supply chains were in place. Most importantly it had the financial backing of a multi millionaire, yet in the end it couldn't be listed by any of the chains. The reasoning was it might upset, the big boys who pay thousands a week in kickbacks for end displays and advertising buys....

 

So with space already limited now for products adding booze will just mean a few marginal products will get delisted to make room, and I honestly can't see a small brewery/winery being able to do any better at getting their foot in the door full scale while competing against the giants. Hopefully some local stores will use their limited UPC codes to list some local favorites though.

[Jds63]

The Beer Store is all foreign owned and all the profits from its monopoly are sent abroad to its foreign shareholders ...... good thing the govt will issue them a $100 million dollar licensing fee

Its about time we get a choice too ......

 

I find it funny that they wont sell distilled spirits outside of LCBO alongside wine and beer because of "social responsibility" .... so why when I'm up in West Guilford and walk into the the grocery store up there to buy a steak I could pick up a up a bottle of rum if I want to ...I guess the "social responsibility" only applies if you are south of Hwy 7 ? ...LOL

[fish_fishburn]

They should do away with both the Beer Store and the LCBO. The service is good at both but their hours of operation suck in my town. Now hopefully the price of beer will come down. A 24 in quebec is15 bucks cheaper than Ontario. That's right across the river from me so that's where I buy. Plus quebec has good sales on all the time because of free enterprise. No such thing in Ontario because we have to pay stock boys and ladies 20.00 plus benefits per hour.

[bigugli]

Brewer's Retail is a dinosaur from an age when there were 3 family breweries in Ontario controlling 99% of the beer flow. All Canadian, Molson's, Labatt's and Carling were the owners and operators. Only member breweries and their subsidiaries were allowed to sell through Brewers Retail. The big change came with the introduction of Miller Light, and since then the restrictions have slowly devolved. Stubbies were removed. Specialty and micro brews, foreign labels and foreign ownership have all made the original reasons for the Brewer's Retail obsolete

[lew]

At least things are better around here now compared to the days when we went into the LCBO, filled out a form for what we wanted, handed it to a guy behind a steel fence and waited for him to bring it out to us.

 

At least now we can wander around the store browsing for different products that we may like to try.

Edited March 13, 2015 by lew

[fish_fishburn]

I remember those days Lew. Kind of made you feel like you were buying contraband.lol

[Canuck2fan]

What should really happen is the beer and wine should be sold in grocery/corner stores.

 

The LCBO should be spirits and weed, where they will have a bit more control on who they sell to.

[dave524]

I remember those days Lew. Kind of made you feel like you were buying contraband.lol

 

 

Consumer's Distributing , remember those catalogs , operated on the same model, Funny as a university student I drank a cheap Hungarian wine, "1146B" , funny, I can remember that but half the time I walk into a room I forget what I was after

[AKRISONER]

What should really happen is the beer and wine should be sold in grocery/corner stores.

 

The LCBO should be spirits and weed, where they will have a bit more control on who they sell to.

 

nailed it

[Gerritt]

Listening to the CBC the other day and Ontario is considering allowing wine and small craft brewers to operate their own stores... And cross sell. Craft brews at wine stores and wine at craft beer stores...

 

It's not much.... But it's a start

 

Good news for ontario for once

 

G

[Big Cliff]

What I want to know is why I can buy a bottle of Crown Royal in the US for $12.00 that cost me $52.00 here in Canada? Why can I buy a 24 of beer in the US for $18.00 that cost me $59.00 here in Canada? Don't you dare tell me it is because of the wonderful health care system we have here in Canada, we already pay a health care tax! Like I said, if Whinnie the Poo is involved you can be sure she is getting something out of it for her and she doesn't care what it costs you and I!