LCBO express outlets to be set up in Ontario grocery stores

Some Ontario shoppers will get the option of buying liquor and wine inside their local grocery stores starting late next year.

The Liquor Control Board will set up what it calls Express outlets inside 10 grocery stores over the next 18 months.

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan says he expects the pilot project will be well received by consumers and will then be expanded to other areas.

The LCBO will decide which communities and grocery stores will host its new Express outlets over the next year, and will also create new VQA boutiques for Ontario wines inside five of its own stores.

“Ontarians are seeking more convenience in where they purchase their wine, beer and spirits,” government spokesperson Scott Blodgett told 680News. “Now, last spring as you may recall, we did announce that LCBO will be expanding their store networks significantly.”

“We believe that these LCBO express stores and the VQA destination boutiques they are definitely going to respond to Ontarians interest in greater convenience and also meet the increasing interest in locally grown wine,” Blodgett said.

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan says setting up LCBO outlets in grocery stores is a better way to improve consumer access than the Progressive Conservatives’ call to sell alcohol in corner stores, an idea he calls “bone-headed.”

The finance minister says having LCBO outlets in grocery stores will help promote Ontario wines and craft beers, which he doubts corner stores would stock if they were allowed to sell alcohol.

More than 12,000 people signed a petition by the Ontario Convenience Stores Association this summer, to push for the sale of alcohol in corner stores.

Moving to more private sales, like convenience stores, would mean less revenue for the government, finance minister Duncan said.

The LCBO turned over $1.65-billion to the province last year.

 

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