I hate to be Mr. Contradiction-Face, but the LCBO is not the largest buyer and retailer of beverage alcohol in the world. They are one of the largest, though...they even addressed this in their FAQ back in the day. (Some of the larger European supermarket chains, like Tesco, take that crown.)BartOwl wrote:On the other hand, in Ontario specifically, we have bulk buying benefits, since the LCBO is the largest retailer of alcohol in the world. This tends to drive prices down a little.
I'm also not sure they use their bulk purchasing power to their advantage. It could be apocryphal, or maybe it's changed since then, but I once read that the LCBO wouldn't accept bulk discounts because they'd have to charge less for booze (which is not their mandate). Plus, with their stringent labelling and testing standards, there are a lot of costs carried on to the customer.