LCBO to open express outlets in grocery stores

Picking up some wine for dinner or some beer for a weekend party is about to get more convenient with the LCBO set to open “express” outlets in select grocery stores in Ontario.

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario will open the outlets over the next 12 to 18 months, the province said in a release on Monday. The agency also plans to open new VQA Destination Boutiques inside full-size LCBO stores, selling harder-to-find wines made by smaller producers.

The move, announced on New Year’s Eve, one of the busiest days for alcohol sales, comes after growing calls for the provincial government to open up liquor sales.

The LCBO Express pilot project will roll out in 10 grocery stores. The locations haven’t yet been determined.

Earlier this month, Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak promised to privatize the LCBO and open the market up so grocery and convenience store owners can sell beer, wine and liquor.

“It’s time to end the LCBO and Beer Store monopolies,” Hudak said Dec. 4.

“It’s about…treating people as adults in Ontario.”

Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan called Hudak’s plan to privatize the LCBO “boneheaded.”

Other provinces, such as Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec, already allow private liquor sales.

Ontario’s alcohol market brought in $9.5 billion in 2011-12.

In July, a massive petition calling for beer and wine sales in convenience stores – signed by more than 100,000 people – was delivered to Queen’s Park. The Ontario Convenience Store Association pointed to a 2011 Ipsos-Reid survey that showed two-thirds of Ontarians wanted the option of buying booze at their corner store.

[View the story “Reaction to grocery store LCBOs” on Storify]What do you think about buying beer, wine and liquor at the grocery store? Let us know in the comments below.

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