The Bar Towel

Is The Beer Store finished? Sources say announcement coming soon that could end beer case sales monopoly

Within the next month, the Ford government is expected to announce it’s not renewing the Master Framework Agreement, which prevents anyone but The Beer Store from selling beer by the case.

seangm wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2023 10:27 am The article is paywalled, so the answer might be in there, but I thought it was just the LCBO who don't sell by the case. I've bought cases of beer at a discount direct from breweries before; Great Lakes sells a number of their beers at a case discount through their retail and online stores for instance.

MatttthewGeorge wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2023 12:24 pm

seangm wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2023 10:27 am The article is paywalled, so the answer might be in there, but I thought it was just the LCBO who don't sell by the case. I've bought cases of beer at a discount direct from breweries before; Great Lakes sells a number of their beers at a case discount through their retail and online stores for instance.

I'm also paywalled, but...
Breweries have always been able to sell by the case. Also true for Beer Store-only and joint BS/LCBO agency stores, but not for LCBO-only agency stores.
So this move would allow LCBO, LCBO-only agency stores, and grocery stores to sell cases I believe.

Tapsucker wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2023 3:04 pm Honestly, I'm more annoyed by TBS being the only option for container return. Especially as more and more locations close and not everybody can make their way to them with empties. If they blow it up, I sure hope they come up with something smarter.

The proper solution is universal deposit on all beverage containers (pop, water, tetra etc.) and either the seller redeems (ie, the grocery store or LCBO takes back the empties of what they sold) or a network of automated collection machines like exist in other parts of the world. Everything gets a bar code. Dump your empties in a hopper, the kiosk scans, sorts and bins or bundles accordingly and spits out your change.

Am I the only one here to remember the days when you took your pop bottles and milk jugs back to the store you bought them from?

A government source has told The Globe and Mail that late next week, Premier Doug Ford’s government will unveil a plan to expand the places where alcohol is sold, including allowing beer in corner stores.

Cass wrote: ↑Sat Dec 09, 2023 10:09 am More on this in today's Globe (paywalled) - announcement coming next week.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/ ... er-stores/

A government source has told The Globe and Mail that late next week, Premier Doug Ford’s government will unveil a plan to expand the places where alcohol is sold, including allowing beer in corner stores.

Andicus wrote: ↑Sat Dec 09, 2023 2:34 pm
Weird.. It's not even election time, yet. Maybe it's an attempt to distract from all the scandals.

Cass wrote: ↑Sat Dec 09, 2023 3:00 pm

Andicus wrote: ↑Sat Dec 09, 2023 2:34 pm
Weird.. It's not even election time, yet. Maybe it's an attempt to distract from all the scandals.

No doubt trying to put out something that will likely be broadly accepted (except for the usual teetotaler crowd. Plus, that Beer Store agreement expires in a year so perhaps there’s some kind of notice period to let that lapse.

Three sources in the industry say the key changes include:

- Allowing all corner stores and any gas stations that sell food to sell beer, wine, cider and ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages, such as seltzers or premixed cocktails (collectively known as RTDs).
- Allowing all grocery stores to sell beer, wine, cider and RTDs, scrapping the existing cap on the number of supermarkets with retail licences.
- Ending the restrictions that currently permit only The Beer Store to sell cases of 12 and 24.

Cass wrote: ↑Tue Dec 12, 2023 9:27 am Announcement coming on Thursday:

Three sources in the industry say the key changes include:

- Allowing all corner stores and any gas stations that sell food to sell beer, wine, cider and ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages, such as seltzers or premixed cocktails (collectively known as RTDs).
- Allowing all grocery stores to sell beer, wine, cider and RTDs, scrapping the existing cap on the number of supermarkets with retail licences.
- Ending the restrictions that currently permit only The Beer Store to sell cases of 12 and 24.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ ... -1.7055737