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Convenience Industry hails retail alcohol expansion as 'milestone' · Kvetch & Release

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  Speaker 1: Today is the day, September the fifth alcohol retail has
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  Speaker 1: expanded to convenience stores across the province. And I got
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  Speaker 1: to tell you I stopped into a convenience store on
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  Speaker 1: the way here. I did not make a purchase, but
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  Speaker 1: I looked at some of the selections and the pricing
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  Speaker 1: was very reasonable, about two point fifty for a tall
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  Speaker 1: can of beer, twenty two bucks for a twelve pack,
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  Speaker 1: to twenty nine dollars for a twelve pack. Bottles of
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  Speaker 1: wine were sixteen dollars. And you know, the sky wasn't
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  Speaker 1: falling by any means whatsoever. Just three years shy from
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  Speaker 1: one hundred years after prohibition, we have finally reached a
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  Speaker 1: point of very significant liberalization of our alcohol sector. Joining
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  Speaker 1: me right now to discuss is the vice president of
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  Speaker 1: Communications and Stakeholder Relations for the Convenience Industry Council of Canada,
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  Speaker 1: Jeff Brownlee joins right now, this is a big day
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  Speaker 1: for you guys.
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  Speaker 2: Jeff, absolutely, John, it certainly is. We haven't been at
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  Speaker 2: this as long as a mayple leice, but this is
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  Speaker 2: really our Stanley Cup celebration, it really is.
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  Speaker 1: How does it feel marking this point, there were a number.
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  Speaker 2: Of times that we were too sure if we were
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  Speaker 2: going to get this over the goal line. But it's
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  Speaker 2: kind of surreal to the fact that, you know, it's
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  Speaker 2: taken a long time to get here and it feels
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  Speaker 2: really good. I mean, a lot of the convenience stores,
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  Speaker 2: there's what forty one hundred licenses or forty one hundred
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  Speaker 2: and fifty licenses so far in an aerial. A lot
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  Speaker 2: of the retailers are very excited about this because it
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  Speaker 2: is a game changer for the industry. That's whethered many
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  Speaker 2: many storms in the past few years, especially since covid and.
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  Speaker 1: Has watched alcohol expand into other well into other sectors
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  Speaker 1: in different ways, with you know, from restaurants and buyers
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  Speaker 1: being able to offer takeout and take home, and then
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  Speaker 1: with cannabis expansion as well. I know that a lot
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  Speaker 1: of convenience stores were saying, hey, what about us, We'd
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  Speaker 1: like to get involved in something new here as well.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, we you know, for a little while there
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  Speaker 2: we were saying, you know, wins at our And as
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  Speaker 2: a result of that, we really put the pressure on
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  Speaker 2: the provincial government to give us our chance, the opportunity
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  Speaker 2: to as the Premier says, and Minister about them Falby
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  Speaker 2: to give Ontarian's convenience.
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  Speaker 1: In choice and so obviously looked forty two hundred licenses.
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  Speaker 1: That's a huge amount. I know that you had some
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  Speaker 1: economic research prepared by Cascadia Partners that says that there's
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  Speaker 1: going to be a lot of new jobs because of us.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we had some like some numbers crunch and we
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  Speaker 2: figured it's going to be a bit ninety three hundred
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  Speaker 2: new jobs. But the other side of it is we
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  Speaker 2: expect towards estimated that when this does get up and
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  Speaker 2: running at full speed ahead, it will add an additional
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  Speaker 2: two hundred million dollars to the tax serving you, the
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  Speaker 2: majority of which we'll go to the provincial government.
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  Speaker 1: That is very significant and something that you know, I
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  Speaker 1: think people would be happy to hear about. But so
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  Speaker 1: I've read from your president of the CICC saying that
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  Speaker 1: this is a milestone for consumers. It marks the end
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  Speaker 1: of antiquated prohibition era rules. Just focusing back in on that,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it's hard to believe that almost one hundred
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  Speaker 1: years is what it's taken to get to this point.
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  Speaker 1: When you hear voices that are still in opposition to
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  Speaker 1: this expansion that say let's go slower to this. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know how much slower you can get than
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  Speaker 1: almost one hundred years.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been a long time coming. And listen, let's
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  Speaker 2: be honest. You know, the beverage alcohol system up until
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  Speaker 2: this point in Ontario is you know, antiquated. This is
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  Speaker 2: getting us into a new era that puts us in
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  Speaker 2: you know, a level playing field with two other provinces
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  Speaker 2: in the country, Newsolinan and Labrador and of course Quebec,
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  Speaker 2: but also the US. And it's about time. We did
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  Speaker 2: a number of pulling over the last few years, and
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  Speaker 2: the majority of Ontarians, more than seventy five percent every
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  Speaker 2: pool that we did, we're in favor of this. Drinkers,
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  Speaker 2: people that did consume alcohol, it was almost one hundred
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  Speaker 2: percent wanted this. So this isn't That's something that the
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  Speaker 2: province or the Ontarians want and something that they deserve,
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  Speaker 2: and it's way past time.
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  Speaker 1: So I see here that you're the CiCe, see the
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  Speaker 1: Convenience Industry Council Canada. You represent seventy five hundred retailers
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  Speaker 1: in Ontario alone. Considering that forty two hundred licenses have
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  Speaker 1: been granted in Ontario, obviously a significant amount of your
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  Speaker 1: retailer said, we really want this to happen.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, it's about fifty five to fifty six percent.
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  Speaker 2: Some you know, as we go forward, some have decided
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  Speaker 2: at this stage that they're going to wait and see
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  Speaker 2: how things go. We expect more to come online down
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  Speaker 2: the road, as you know, as we work out a
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  Speaker 2: few of the little bugs. But yeah, this is like
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  Speaker 2: I said, this is a game changer for the industry.
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  Speaker 2: Just to give you an example when I was talking
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  Speaker 2: about those storms, John, Unfortunately, over the past three years,
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  Speaker 2: three convenience stores have closed their doors every day in Canada.
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  Speaker 2: In Ontario, five stores closed every week. This will help
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  Speaker 2: that definitely. We expect traffic will increase at a minimum
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  Speaker 2: of twenty percent, and it really gives the retailers a
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  Speaker 2: diversified product mix. Number one to attract people into the store,
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  Speaker 2: but you know another product that they can sell that Those.
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  Speaker 1: Are significant numbers. Three closures store per day in Canada,
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  Speaker 1: but five in a week in Ontario alone. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I don't think that many people would have realized that.
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  Speaker 2: Well, and that's the unfortunate thing. A lot of these closures, unfortunately,
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  Speaker 2: are happening in rural and remote areas because convenience is
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  Speaker 2: a tough business. The pandemic wasn't good to us unfortunately,
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  Speaker 2: and the industry is in a bit of a transition
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  Speaker 2: right now. But this is, like I said, this is
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  Speaker 2: really going to help us, you know, hopefully reverse that trend.
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  Speaker 1: Well hopefully, So knock on wood about that. Last things
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  Speaker 1: I want to ask you. In the release that you've
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  Speaker 1: sent out here, it says, you know, there's still issues
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  Speaker 1: that need to be addressed to ensure that the retail
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  Speaker 1: framework works for everyone. What more needs to be done?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, to get to this stage, as I said earlier, John,
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  Speaker 2: it took us a while, and there are a few
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  Speaker 2: little extending issues that we have to work on. Distribution
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  Speaker 2: and pricing are the two main ones, but they're not
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  Speaker 2: huge issues. It's just that, you know, if we go
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  Speaker 2: into over the next few months, there's a few of
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  Speaker 2: these little glitches that we're going to work with the
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  Speaker 2: government continue to work out to ensure that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the system is fair and running properly for everybody. It
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  Speaker 2: was a huge undertaking to get the supply chain up
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  Speaker 2: and running for today, so you know, obviously we would
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  Speaker 2: have loved to have it like a million percent perfect.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, realistically that's not going to happen. There
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  Speaker 2: will be a few little glitches down the road, and
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  Speaker 2: you know we just have to work through those. But
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  Speaker 2: there's no real big stumbling blocks that we can overcome.
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  Speaker 1: Well to you and to your organization, into your membership. Congratulations,
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  Speaker 1: the day is here. I honestly didn't think that we
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  Speaker 1: were ever going to get to this place. I still
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  Speaker 1: think that COVID did so much to bring us forward
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  Speaker 1: in an alcohol expansion and where we're at. Congratulations to
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  Speaker 1: you and to your membership. It's a big step forward.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks John. Can I end with one other little step
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  Speaker 2: that may be of interest to your listeners. Please, So
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  Speaker 2: you asked, you know what this means, and let's put
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  Speaker 2: this into perspective. So we track into categories every year
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  Speaker 2: in how they do in the overall sales volume. Nationally,
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  Speaker 2: Beer is the fastest growing category the last three years
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  Speaker 2: running in the second overall highest grossing category, and that's
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  Speaker 2: from data from just one province in Quebec. So last
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  Speaker 2: year beer sales in convenience stores in Quebec was about
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  Speaker 2: half a billion dollars, So there's a lot outside for
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  Speaker 2: the seventy five hundred retailers in Ontario.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, it definitely sounds like that. And now that they've
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  Speaker 1: got access to beer, maybe they'll be able to access
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  Speaker 1: some of that as well. Jeff, thank you so much
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  Speaker 1: for your time. I hope you have a great day. Cheers,
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  Speaker 1: thank you, Cheers to you as well. Jeff Brownlee is
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  Speaker 1: the Vice president Communications and Stakeholder Relations for the Convenience
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  Speaker 1: Industry Council of Canada. Alcohol retail has come. You can
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  Speaker 1: go into convenience stores across Ontario today forty two hundred
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  Speaker 1: of them, quite frankly, and purchase alcohol.