No grocery-booze sale plans in Alberta after allowances in B.C., Ontario
Posted Apr 16, 2015 7:08 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The dream of picking up a bottle of wine or a case of beer with the groceries after work may still be a ways off in Alberta.
Ontario’s liquor authority announced Thursday they would allow booze to be sold in grocery stores and B.C. did the same a few weeks ago.
As it stands now in Alberta, grocery stores can sell alcohol in a separate retail outlet, like the branded shop seen in parking lots at some Calgary stores.
Tatjana Laskovic, a communications officer with the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, said the current model works.
“Other provinces are essentially moving liquor sales into grocery stores as a way to increase convenience for consumers and provide alternatives to government run liquors stores, Alberta does not have those same issues,” Laskovic said.
“Certainly Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission is always paying attention what’s happening in other provinces. That being said, the focus in Alberta is to continue making improvements to the existing liquor model.”
Laskovic said Albertans have ample access to more than 2,000 liquor retail locations across the province.
