LCBO / The Beer Store

[jayme2016]

There is a woman who goes through the east end of Line 2 salvaging cans late at night. She has gloves, steel toed shoes and everything.

She is well known by TTC staff and Warden Station regulars for carrying garbage bags full of cans through the station every night. She means well but getting on buses and the subway with several large bags of cans is somewhat disgusting.

The street i live on many don't return there booze bottles/beer cans they just toss them out there is this one guy comes on his bike with a wagon and takes most of them.

 

[Northern Light]

I stock pile my empties in the garage. I take them back every summer. Last summer i got over $50 back from the Beer Store. Next summer i should get back about a million dollars thanks to the shutdown. We are drinking a hell of a lot more at home.

Hmmm, $50 is equal to 500 cans/bottles of beer.

If there's 2 of you..............that's 250 each.

That's less than 1 drink per day on average.......so pretty reasonable.

On the other hand............1M back.............

Would be 10M bottles/cans of beer

Or 500,000 each which is 1,370 beers per day.

May I suggest a modest reduction........?

LOL

IF nothing else.......pretty sure you're going to run out of room in the garage!

 

[W. K. Lis]

LILLEY: Time for Canada to uncork restrictive booze laws

From link.

If you’ve ever enjoyed a nice glass of Nk’Mip Pinot Blanc while sitting on the shores of Okanagan Lake, sipped a Ceasar in Saskatoon made with Lucky Bastard’s famous Dill Pickle Vodka or ordered another Alpine before saying farewell to Nova Scotia, you may have wanted to recreate that moment when you got back home.

Sadly, Canada’s disjointed and arcane liquor laws still make that impossible for most of us.

Thankfully, Conservative MP Dan Albas is trying to remedy the situation once again.

In 2012, Albas was successful in getting unanimous support in the House of Commons to allow Canadians to order wine directly from producers in other provinces. Unfortunately, that bill required provinces to agree to let you order wine directly from another province in Canada and only four did.

British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba were the only provinces to jump on board. Some provinces, like Ontario, made minor changes but direct ordering to have a B.C. wine delivered in Toronto remains illegal. With his new private member’s bill, Albas wants to go around provincial governments by allowing access via Canada Post.

“Small scale Canadian vintners, distillers and craft brewers should not be shut out of major provincial liquor monopolies because of their size,” Albas said as he introduced his bill. “This Bill is a simple but important solution that provides an economic opportunity to increase revenues while increasing choice for consumers.”

Albas points out that the impetus for Confederation in the 1860s was to bring about free trade among the provinces, something that has not happened. If passed, and there is no reason any party should stand against this, then Canada Post could deliver your favourite tipple across provincial boundaries.

“If someone works hard in this country to create a fine product, they should be able to send it and share it with anyone across this great country.,” Albas said.

He points out that too often, Canadians have an easier time buying American, French or Italian wines. It’s true, it’s easier for me to find a small beer from Belgium at my government liquor store in Toronto than to find a brew from Burnaby.

We should never have ended up at this point, Confederation should have solved this more than 150 years ago, but special interests and provincial monopolies just won’t let it happen. This bill is a good work around to let consumers make their own choices.

“As a freedom loving Conservative, I believe that the liquor monopolies are never going to be so smart that they’re going to be able to figure out exactly what you as an individual want. It should be up to you,” Albas said.

Albas expects to get cross party support for this bill, noting the unanimous support for his previous bill included Justin Trudeau, then yet to be prime minister or Liberal leader.

As Albas said, we need to be able to support our own industries, especially as they deal with these uncertain times. Many small operators relied upon tourists and foot traffic to survive, but that has dried up with COVID-19 and may not come back for some time.

This change may be a small one legislatively but could be a big change for an ambitious winery, brewery or distillery that wants to market across Canada.

Albas calls this the “Buy, Ship and Sip” campaign. I’d say this is one we can all get behind.

 

[Northern Light]

LCBO open Mondays again.

LCBO stores across Ontario are now open on Mondays again

After cutting down its operating hours at the onset of the pandemic, the LCBO has finally decided to open up its stores on Mondays again. It's been n…

www.blogto.com

 

[christiesplits]

The Beer Store loss grows to $51 million amid competition, COVID

Retailer’s long-term future in question, experts say.

www.thestar.com

This is in contrast to the LCBO, which has seen sales rise during COVID, despite an increase in supermarkets selling booze.

 

[Richard White]

The Beer Store loss grows to $51 million amid competition, COVID

Retailer’s long-term future in question, experts say.

www.thestar.com

This is in contrast to the LCBO, which has seen sales rise during COVID, despite an increase in supermarkets selling booze.

Not surprised. Beer only lasts so long vs wine and spirits which store well. If you are worried about access to alcohol stock up on the hard stuff.

 

[Northern Light]

The Beer Store loss grows to $51 million amid competition, COVID

Retailer’s long-term future in question, experts say.

www.thestar.com

This is in contrast to the LCBO, which has seen sales rise during COVID, despite an increase in supermarkets selling booze.

Consumer sales at The Beer Store have not plummeted. Though they are down a bit.

There was no expansion of grocery store sales in the last 12 months.

The real culprit here is the fall-off in restaurant sales.

Keg sales are in the toilet.

There is no 'wholesale' beer market in Ontario.

The Beer Store sells retail to restaurants, with stores acting as warehouses for that purpose.

So the stores are essentially the wholesale distribution arm of the brewers in Ontario; in addition to being retail stores.

****

I fully expect 'The Beer Store' to contract, and points of sale to widen further; irrespective of the current government.

But that's more a long term secular trend, particularly in Toronto, where the real estate holdings of TBS have simply been deemed too valuable for their current use.

The keg sales will return when restos/bars fully re-open, presumably later this year.

But TBS will continue selling off its store network.........

Which, will, of course, also depress the sales figure.

 

[gabe]

The Beer Store loss grows to $51 million amid competition, COVID

Retailer’s long-term future in question, experts say.

www.thestar.com

This is in contrast to the LCBO, which has seen sales rise during COVID, despite an increase in supermarkets selling booze.

Yep no restaurant or bar sales! Looks good on them, The Beer Store cartel has been ripping restaurants and bars off for decades.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

Since COVID started, I have been ordering directly from local brewers, when before, I may have gone to the Beer Store for a 24-pack.

 

[TossYourJacket]

Yeah, between local brewers and the LCBO, I'm not even sure the last time I went to The Beer Store. Doesn't help they closed the one near me early last year, and why would I go further to get product I can either get closer at an LCBO or actually go support a local brewery directly.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Is it last call for The Beer Store? Ballooning losses and increased competition raise questions about its survival​

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My vote is yes, close it down. My local Beer Stores are filthy, smell like p#ss, and are magnets for vagrancy, panhandling and public nuisance. I get my beer at the LCBO, Loblaws and Walmart. That’ll do.

 

[afransen]

We need a system for deposit return, if we want to continue that scheme. Frankly, I'm unconvinced that aluminum cans need a deposit because they are highly recyclable. And wine/spirit bottles are all single use and are trashed upon return, so it seems like a big waste of time to return them to the Beer Store rather than the blue bin.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Is it last call for The Beer Store? Ballooning losses and increased competition raise questions about its survival​

Outline - Read & annotate without distractions

Outline is a free service for reading and annotating news articles. We remove the clutter so you can analyze and comment on the content.

outline.com

My vote is yes, close it down. My local Beer Stores are filthy, smell like p#ss, and are magnets for vagrancy, panhandling and public nuisance. I get my beer at the LCBO, Loblaws and Walmart. That’ll do.

The LCBO used to have stores that forbid self-serve at one time. They switched to self-serve.

There are only some Beer Stores that are self-serve, not many. They are still stuck in the 1950's and 1960's. Time for the Beer Store to move into the 21st century.

 

[gabe]

We need a system for deposit return, if we want to continue that scheme. Frankly, I'm unconvinced that aluminum cans need a deposit because they are highly recyclable. And wine/spirit bottles are all single use and are trashed upon return, so it seems like a big waste of time to return them to the Beer Store rather than the blue bin.

Every country in the modern world and even most of Canada, gives you deposit on all recyclables even aluminum cans, Except Ontario. It's a special place of stupid when it comes to recycling.

 

[W. K. Lis]