Beer in Grocery Stores

[Belgian]

Sky, meet pie!

[portwood]

Sky, meet pie!

Any other retailer, I would agree 100% with this sentiment.
Costco, otoh, is a bit of a different breed of retailer

[Belgian]

Let us hope, Portwood! The race to the bottom is not making Ontario a more fun place.

[S. St. Jeb]

It is possible to buy beer at a grocery store self-checkout??!!

Union says ban alcohol sales at grocery self-checkouts

Toronto – The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE), in a release today, is demanding that the government of Ontario rethink its guidelines surrounding alcohol sales through self-checkouts, and ban the practice entirely.

“Under the current regulations, grocery stores can decide for themselves whether to sell beer through self-checkouts,” said Warren (Smokey) Thomas, OPSEU President. “As far as I’m concerned, this is an open invitation to intoxicated and underage customers to try to purchase alcohol illegally.”

Some grocery stores, including Loblaws stores, already do not allow it.

The call comes after the union learned that a member of the public lodged a complaint with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) after seeing a visibly intoxicated man purchasing beer through a self-checkout kiosk at a local grocery store, said the announcement.

http://www.momandhops.ca/union-says-ban ... checkouts/

[Lukie]

I know someone who works at Costco and they said that they will start selling beer. Although I'm sure it'll be no different than normal grocery stores sell.
I wish we could get the wine/beer selection that American Costco gets. I do believe that Costco now has the greatest wine p urchasing power in the world, and I'm sure beer is much the same.

Makes sense. Costco already sells wine kits at some of their warehouses as well as online and fermenting equipment (eg. Fastferment). Not surprised at all. Let's hope more shelf space = better selection.

[cfrancis]

Banning alcohol at self serve checkouts. They have that in California. It's a lobby by the union to preserve checkouts. It really has nothing to do with minors being able to get alcohol. Quebec does it along with other states.

[Belgian]

“Under the current regulations, grocery stores can decide for themselves whether to sell beer through self-checkouts,” said Warren (Smokey) Thomas, OPSEU President. “As far as I’m concerned, this is an open invitation to intoxicated and underage customers to try to purchase alcohol illegally.”

Or commit fraud to get free beer, as a lot of these self-checkout purchases contribute to shrinkage from deliberate theft or user error. Kind of defeats the purpose of increasing profits for the Loblaw family that they so desperately need.

IThe call comes after the union learned that a member of the public lodged a complaint with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) after seeing a visibly intoxicated man purchasing beer through a self-checkout kiosk at a local grocery store, said the announcement.

Why is every sweeping decision in Ontario rooted in a single occurrence of one guy ^ somebody claims was tipsy, or else 1-2 messages from people that were offended by a label or something?

[portwood]

Why is every sweeping decision in Ontario rooted in a single occurrence of one guy ^ somebody claims was tipsy, or else 1-2 messages from people that were offended by a label or something?

In a system where a minority can elect a majority government, it shouldn't surprise that an even smaller minority can have such an impact on policy.

[sofakingdrunk]

Not that i go to the(only one in town that sells beer)grocery store often for beer but each of the half dozen times I've went, there has not been anything different....ever. Just wondering if this is the case with other grocery stores as well, or just this perticular one. I'm not expecting them to have anything mind blowing, but i've noticed numerous new listings on here of "just for grocery" beers, really just curious if they ever show up. Luckily i can at least get some fresh-ish naughty neighbour or headstock

[GtownRandy]

I picked up alpha bomb at sobeys in ottawa about 4 months ago. They also had collective arts stash which is not at the lcbo.

http://www.canadianbeernews.com/2016/08/16/big-rig-releasing-trio-of-beers-to-ontario-grocery-stores/

Big Rig Alpha Bomb, among others, is coming to select grocery stores soon. Is this the first example of beers being released exclusively to grocers, or is there an LCBO or TBS listing coming soon?

i was delighted today to finally see some alpha bomb in the georgetown RCSS! nice and bitter and grapefruity. my brother in law was supposed to bring me some from ottawa this past weekend but he forgot it and the 2 cans of aromatherapy i asked for. he did however bring me from brouehaha in gatineau, 12 moralite ($2.33 each), 8 peche mortel ($2.75 each) and 4 castor yakima ($6.99 for 650ml), so i forgave him

[Cadbury102]

This past weekend I saw Exchange Brewery Session Saison at the Loblaws on Eastman in Etobicoke. I didn't see the price, but it was certainly a nice surprise.

[IPA_Lover]

Check your canning dates when you're at Loblaws! I'm specifically referring to the Loblaws at Leslie & Lakeshore in Toronto. Even after I msg'd Collective Arts to tell them about the ridiculously old beer on the shelves it's still sitting there even though the rep said they'd look into it. This was months ago.

The brands in questions are their Forge & Fire Pale Ale and Amber Ale. Canning dates are from March 2016! I'm surprised they're willing to let people buy year old beer when this represents their brand and beer quality.

Makes you wonder about quality control and how often inventory turns over at grocery stores.

[GtownRandy]

I agree, you have to be careful at grocery stores, there are cases sitting there for months. As i've learned in the last year, hoppy beers like IPA's are best fresh, even after a month or two they are not as aromatic or flavorful.

But LCBO's can be just as bad at stock rotation and inventory management. At Gtown store #1 recently, the "beer guy" was my cashier, so i told him i saw a case of Ransack with some cans dated Aug 2016 and Oct 2016 in behind the new cases. At Gtown store #2, there was 3 cases of Ransack in the cooler, and then another 4 cases on the shelf, none especially recent. There's no way they will go through that much before it loses freshness, if it hasnt already. For hoppy beers, they should only order in what they can sell in the next month

[Belgian]

Canning dates are from March 2016! I'm surprised they're willing to let people buy year old beer when this represents their brand and beer quality.

My thoughts exactly. I've seen old stale-tasting beer at LCBOs too and wondered the same thing, ie. why are they relying on customer returns as a means of quality control?
I'm concerned customers buying bad beer at Loblaws will be discouraged to buy again & this will hurt the whole initiative.

[Blasphomet]

All I want is shit beer in corner stores that I can buy when in need while buying smokes or something. The whole grocery store thing is a big meh.