Beer to be sold in Ontario grocery stores

Shelfs stocked with Beer | Photo: Jake Scott

Zahraa Alumairy
The Eyeopener

(CUP)—Beer could be sold in grocery stores before the end of this year. The Ontario government announced on Sept. 23 they will allow some grocers to stock the shelves with beer.

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario will award 48 large grocers and 12 small grocers authorizations to sell beer. Twenty five of these grocers will be located in the Greater Toronto Area.

At a news conference on the day of the announcement, Premier Kathleen Wynne detailed this process as a part of “modernizing our province’s beer retailing system to give people better access to the products they enjoy — and doing it in a prudent and socially responsible way.”

Currently, beer in Ontario is sold exclusively at The Beer Store and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) stores.

For this change, the government has made a series of agreements with the company, said Wynne, helping to “level the playing field” for Ontario-based brewers to encourage economic growth throughout the province. The Beer Store retails approximately 80 per cent of the beer in Ontario.

All grocers who plan on selling beer will be making agreements with the LCBO, the sole supplier of beer in all private retail channels. As such, they must commit to meeting strict requirements in retailing alcohol safely, ensuring that:

• Beer is not sold to persons under 19 or those who are intoxicated
• Sales adhere to standard hours of sale
• Beer is only available in designated sections of stores
• All staff are trained to ensure the Ontario standards are met.

Grocery stores interested in bidding to carry beer have until Nov. 6 to submit their applications to the LCBO. The plan will be to have 450 stores carrying beer, 150 by May 2017, distributed province-wide to ensure fair competition.