Beer and wine in cornerstores

[vid]

Loblaws looks so much fancier compared to Superstore. And by "so much", I mean "a little bit".

[1overcosc]

This is what a Loblaws receipt for beer looks like:

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

This is what a Loblaws receipt for beer looks like:

That's a pretty wet receipt, did you spill some beer on it?

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

That's a pretty wet receipt, did you spill some beer on it?

The lighting makes it look wet, lol.

[vid]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

This is what a Loblaws receipt for beer looks like:

You could have earned 20 PC points if you had paid with a PC Financial Mastercard!

That's two whole cents!!

[eternallyme]

Now 150 grocery stores will get licensed to sell wine. As expected, OPSEU is fighting hard against it (trying to protect their jobs and nothing else). I HATE them so much...I wish that union would be made illegal.

[waterloowarrior]

I came across the regulation governing the sale of beer in grocery stores. wow.. I guess if they don't have enough varieties of milk and cheese they can't sell beer

https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/150290

[vid]

It doesn't say they must have a certain amount, it just requires them to be a grocery store larger than 10,000sqft with a variety of all different kinds of foods. The clause below that is far more interesting:

6 (2) 3. The store must not primarily be identified to the public as a pharmacy, even if a pharmacy as defined in the Drug and Pharmacies Regulation Act is located within the store.

This essentially rules out every Shoppers Drug Mart, though they would otherwise qualify under section 6 (2) 2., since they're over 10,000sqft and offer all 12 described products. I would imagine it would rule out any business with the word "drug" or "pharmacy" in its name. This is similar to the clause in the tobacco law that prevents any store with a pharmacy from selling cigarettes. Safeway responded to that by opening little corner stores beside their main entrances which were run as a separate business, while Superstore sells cigarettes in the gas bar.

[1overcosc]

The Loblaws I go to in Kingston only sells cigarettes in the customer service booth. Same thing with lottery tickets.

[1overcosc]

In new booze news, the provincial budget dropped this: The LCBO's online store, with home delivery, will launch in a few months.

[HillStreetBlues]

Sometimes I wish I lived in a free country, where the government could maintain a fiction that it had more important things to concern itself with than whether the cheapest bottle of wine cost $7.45 or $7.95, or if alcohol delivery was being offered to consumers.

[MolsonExport]

Finally bought some beer at StupidStore. What an incredibly measly selection they had. An Endcap. That's it, that's all.

[1overcosc]

^ Are there plans to expand the area at all there?

At the Loblaws I go to (one of my best friends works there so I get the inside scoop ), the beer section currently consists of two tiny displays at the end of the soda aisle but it's moving over to a new space that will have two long shelves and three fridges.

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

^ Are there plans to expand the area at all there?

At the Loblaws I go to (one of my best friends works there so I get the inside scoop ), the beer section currently consists of two tiny displays at the end of the soda aisle but it's moving over to a new space that will have two long shelves and three fridges.

I've been twice in the last week to my local 'Superstore'. The 1st time, I didn't realize that not every checkout was beer friendly. By the time I got to the cashier with my 2 cans of Great Lakes Pale Ale and a Mad Tom IPA, the checkout fellow told me that he wasn't trained to check me out. I asked him what the training was that allowed him to allow me to pay for my 3 cans of beer. I'm a 50 something year old customer buying craft beer...not your standard underage beer drinker buying the latest trendy swill. The training consisted of a checkout person in a green shirt punching in a code on the cash register and then allowing my untrained person to continue with the process.

Today, I only saw one green shirted cashier in a row of about 15+ lines so I got in that line. As I got in line, I got the standard 'my line is closed now I'm going on break' response from the green shirted cashier as she saw me approach her line...she said this w/o any 'the line is closed' sign. So I moved to the next line and put down my groceries and beer. The cashier (probably a 70 year old lady) looked suspiciously at my craft beer and exclaimed to me 'this is beer????'. I confirmed it was and then she told me she couldn't check me out. I told her that the only green shirted cashier had now gone on her 'break' and that I was hardly underage etc. She said she didn't know if this was allowed and she was worried she was going to get in trouble. I suggested to her that she break one of the cardinal provincial government rules and let me buy my two cans of beer. She furtively looked around and told me 'ok just this once'.

What a system we have in this puritanical province to buy beer. The whole way to buy it at the supermarket is a solution looking for a problem. All of these rules about no more than a 6 pack, same price as the Beer Store, can't return the empties to the supermarket, can't sell more than a prescribed amount of beer etc. Which government quango think tank, Royal Commission created this nonsensical way to sell a legal product. It was easier to buy cigarettes at the supermarket in the past.

[1overcosc]

^ Sounds like that superstore is bungling the process.

At my local Loblaws we have three aisles (two regular, one express) that are designated "Beer Lanes"--clearly marked with signage. At these aisles, they ensure whoever is posted to them is qualified (at least 18 years old, SmartServe trained). At least two are open at all times. It works quite well. A lot easier than buying, say, scratch tickets or cigarettes, where you have to go to the customer service booth to buy them.

[vid]

Superstore here just removed half the juice/coolers/popcorn section to install beer fridges.

As far as I can tell, they never have less than 6 Smartserve staff working at any time, but our Superstore is part of the Western Canadian network which has all lanes open guaranteed during peak shopping hours. I've seen as many as 11 beer lanes at once here, if that's not normal I'm guessing the store is just being very proactive when it comes to accommodating beer sales.

We do have some of the highest grossing (per capita) beer stores and LCBOs here, so it makes sense to put that kind of effort in.

[Loco101]

Still no grocery store beer in Timmins. But I go to IGA in Rouyn-Noranda, QC to get beer and save money. You can buy all package sizes including in 50 can cases. Cashiers in Quebec don't have to have special training and high school age students often are doing it and also offering to carry it out if you have lots.

[HillStreetBlues]

Originally Posted by Loco101

Still no grocery store beer in Timmins. But I go to IGA in Rouyn-Noranda, QC to get beer and save money. You can buy all package sizes including in 50 can cases. Cashiers in Quebec don't have to have special training and high school age students often are doing it and also offering to carry it out if you have lots.

Yeah, but this lack of regulation must result in rampant alcoholism, and kids buying beer and dying of alcohol poisoning in the streets, doesn't it?

Or maybe Quebecers have more personal discipline than Ontarians. Surely if we were allowed such willy nilly access to booze in Ontario, those of us who didn't drink ourselves to death would stop showing up for work and bring the economy to a grinding halt.

Just in case it wasn't obvious, that was sarcasm. I am jealous of Loco101 that he lives close enough to a free jurisdiction to buy his beer there. I don't believe I can buy a 50-can case even at our corporate monopoly. I just couldn't be trusted with that much beer.

[vid]

In my city, we have about 150 homeless people who chronically abuse the alcohol in mouthwash, hair spray and hand sanitizer, often resulting in medical emergencies and sometimes resulting in deaths. It's not uncommon to find downtown alleys here full of empty Listerine and hair spray bottles.

Can't sell beer after 6pm on Sunday, though!!!!!!

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Loco101

Still no grocery store beer in Timmins. But I go to IGA in Rouyn-Noranda, QC to get beer and save money. You can buy all package sizes including in 50 can cases. Cashiers in Quebec don't have to have special training and high school age students often are doing it and also offering to carry it out if you have lots.

Isn't that like a three hour drive?