LCBO / The Beer Store

[W. K. Lis]

One maybe able to get liquor filled chocolates, alcohol laced mouthwash, etc. outside the LCBO or The Beer Store. If we can't, then they should be sold inside the LCBO or The Beer Store.

 

[Peepers]

Shon, was it you who wrote about how the Beer Store was like a communist-style retail experience? Or was that about Consumers Distributing?

Anyway, whoever wrote that, it was brilliant. It's amazing how a retail model like this still can exist but then you remember that, oh yeah, it's a monopoly*.

*more precisely, it's a cartel.

Actually a retail model like this is brilliant for the Beer Store. Most consumers in Ontario are under the false impression that the province owns the Beer stores. The drab retail experience combined with the surly employees you usually encounter helps to reinforce this false impression which I am sure the foreign owned cartel wants to maintain. As long as most people believe their dollars spent at the Beer Store are going back into provincial coffers the less clamor there is for change.

In 2008 the Toronto Star had an interesting article on the high price of Beer in Ontario and they produced a graphic showing the breakdown on a case of 24 premium Canadian brand:

(Toronto Star graphic)

These are old prices but notice on a case of 24 about $21 goes to the foreign owned cartel and about $13 goes to the provincial & federal government.

Now compare these prices to the prices in Buffalo where you can buy 24 Moslon Canadian (on sale) for $13.99! Even before you factor in the various taxes it is obvious that the foreign owned Beer Store cartel is making enormous profits thanks to legislation that protects them from competition. We need to open the market to full competition if we want to put an end to this massive rip-off of consumers.

http://www.consumersbeverages.com/info/sales.html

Here is a link to the Toronto Star article http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/454722

 

[MisterF]

I doubt if anyone will buy less or more beer or switch brands because of the level of decor at the Beer Store. Some stores are medeival, some are very modern but the beer is the same.

I believe retail competition should be allowed to keep the Beer and Liquor monopolies honest rather than dismantling them but it won't be easy.

I think the "beer in the corner store" model would be problematic for reasons other than those already discussed. The Coca-cola or Pepsi truck delivers a sufficient amount of pop to make the trip worthwhile however the small and not so small breweries are not going to justify delivering a couple of sixpacks to each of a thousand variety stores every week or maybe one sixpack per month of an obscure product.

The average corner store doesn't have the space or credit to stock beer in 12 or 24 packs not to mention the nightmares of refrigeration and processing empties.

You make it sound like it's a hypothetical, untested idea. The system you describe as problematic is far superior to ours and the way that pretty much the entire western world sells alcohol. And more often than not they sell it at lower prices.

 

[drum118]

One in Europe can walk into most places and find beer, wine and liquor on the shelf to buy to the point they can buy single bottle of beer freely.

A bottle of beer range from 75 cents to $1.50 depending on the brand and country. You can buy 6 & 12 pack as well a case of 24 along along with a barrel.

We are behind the time for doing this.

Sorry, but those average corner stores in Europe have no problem in stocking various packs or dealing with empties from what I saw and that is 26 cities in 13 countries that I just visited this past summer.

 

[spider]

You make it sound like it's a hypothetical, untested idea. The system you describe as problematic is far superior to ours and the way that pretty much the entire western world sells alcohol. And more often than not they sell it at lower prices.

Not at all, I just wonder how many of the retail models you mentioned evolved from a long entrenched government supported monopoly such as "The Beer Store" and what were the problems encountered if any. Imagine what our nanny state, that insists on a legal product like tobacco be stored out of sight in no-name packaging, will do to the retailing of alcohol in the same stores. Quelle horreur!

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Imagine what our nanny state, that insists on a legal product like tobacco be stored out of sight in no-name packaging, will do to the retailing of alcohol in the same stores. Quelle horreur!

Many States in the US are moving toward this model too.

 

[gabe]

Pennsylvania is one of the few states that doesn't allow the sale of beer in corner stores or grocery stores. But at least they have privately owned Beer Stores that stock a heck of a lot more brands than our Beer Stores.

Utah is the worst!! The state owns all the liquor stores and makes all the money off alcohol. All beer over 3.2% ABV is considered liquor and is thus subject to strict distribution laws and is not even allowed to be on tap in bars, which are only allowed to serve alcohol until 1am. Up until a few years ago public drinking in Utah had to be done in privately owned clubs which required memberships! Utah has a lot of ridiculous law because of those Mormons.

 

[nfitz]

One in Europe can walk into most places and find beer, wine and liquor on the shelf to buy to the point they can buy single bottle of beer freely.

Not sure what Europe has to do with it. Same is true in most of North America as far as I can tell.

I have no idea why anyone would want this Ontario model to continue, other than the big foreign beer manufacturers like Molson and Labatt who profit the most from this. Just sell it in corner stores like everywhere else. Would probably do wonder for the vitality of the local corner stores, would lower profit margins, and then could walk to get beer, rather than having to drive or take transit (unless your lucky enough to live near a beer store).

Utah has a lot of ridiculous law because of those Mormons.

As opposed to those ridiculous Ontario laws because of those Christians?

 

[junctionist]

I've purchased beer from a street food stand in Vienna. It went well with the shawarma at that busy tram stop. That might be the benchmark for convenience and street food.

 

[diminutive]

I've purchased beer from a street food stand in Vienna. It went well with the shawarma at that busy tram stop. That might be the benchmark for convenience and street food.

I would expect the moral fabric of Austria to rip apart any day now if such licentiousness is allowed. And clearly they will be unable to fund a proper healthcare system.

Wont someone think of the childreen?!?!

...

 

[Torontovibe]

There is a sign on the LCBO at Front & Market, that says it is opening in November.

 

[DSC]

There is a sign on the LCBO at Front & Market, that says it is opening in November.

Staff at the Market Street store say they are moving back upstairs on 13 November.

 

[gabe]

I got a good laugh at the latest fear mongering propaganda ad that's airing on TV from the The Beer Store.

Tell me again why Ontario has a government-mandated beer monopoly that is 100% owned by three massive foreign corporations?


[video=youtube;_OLn5QojMH8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OLn5QojMH8[/video]

 

[TheKingEast]

Pathetic.

 

[James]

Once I stopped laughing, which was a fairly extended length of time, I couldn't stop shaking my head, bewildered and in disbelief that some corporate head actually approved this commercial. It literally seems like a parody produced by The Onion news.