New tweaks to B.C.’s liquor laws mean some grocery stores will soon be able to stock wine on the shelves alongside food.
Starting April 1, stores can sell wine without using the previously approved store-within-a-store model as long as the wines are 100 per cent local, Attorney General Suzanne Anton announced Friday.
“British Columbians will have the convenience of grabbing a bottle of local wine when they pick up their evening groceries,” Anton said.
The grocery stores will still need a license from the B.C. Wine Authority, and shoppers will have to check the wine out at designated registers.
The province promised the new changes will strike a balance between convenience and choice for shoppers, but industry insiders warn similar systems have had damaging results elsewhere.
“We’re disappointed,” said Jeff Guignard of the B.C. Alliance of Beverage Licensees.
“When they tried this in Washington state, they found that it increased prices dramatically, decreased selection on the shelves, and neighbourhood shops… ended up closing.”
Under the new rules, grocery stores that only sell B.C. wine won’t be barred from operating near other wine merchants.
That’s in contrast to geographic restrictions imposed on grocers using the store-within-a-store model, who can’t operate within one kilometre of an existing liquor store.
A Vancouver Sun report earlier this year determined only two grocery stores in the entire City of Vancouver would qualify for that model.
All grocery stores that sell alcohol will still have to take up at least 10,000 square feet, and focus three-quarters of their business on food products or service.
They will also only be able to sell liquor during designated liquor store hours, from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.
