Anyone applying for a new liquor licence in the City of North Vancouver is going to stay high and dry – at least until a rep from B.C.’s Liquor Distribution Branch addresses council.
That was Coun. Craig Keating’s message at a June 19 meeting that attracted the city’s sultans of suds and those aspiring to get into the spirits world.
Keating’s motion – which was unanimously supported by council – stymies Save-on-Foods’ application to sell wine at their Park and Tilford grocery store, halts the proposed expansion of the government liquor store at Westview plaza, and keeps wine off the shelves of Loblaws’ Lonsdale location. Any new business looking for a permit will also be rebuked.
The motion was “a plea” for a senior government official to explain how liquor sales can be expanded without sacrificing the city’s long-standing pubs and liquor stores.
“All I want is somebody to explain to me … how all this is going to work,” Keating said.
While council did speak with a representative from the real estate department of the LDB in April, there are still questions unanswered, according to Keating.
However, there may not be another visit soon, as a letter from LDB general manager R. Blain Lawson noted: “We have already met with council and clarified our position.”
The letter is “nigh on insulting,” according to Keating, who suggested the next representative needs to do a better job of explaining the “hodgepodge of regulations” that govern liquor stores.
“I would like nothing more than to be able to walk in (to a grocery store), grab my steak in one aisle, my potatoes in another aisle and my wine in another aisle,” he said.
But while he appreciates the “wonder of liquor in grocery stores” as a consumer, Keating noted that none of the neighbourhood pubs can start selling steaks and potatoes.
“It is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a level playing field,” he said.
Liquor regulations have been revamped in part to create consumer choice, “but also to get a great haul of new licence fees and income fees from the sale of alcohol,” according to Keating.
There is an untapped market in the centre of the city, according to Laura Jones, who spoke to council regarding Loblaws’ application to sell wine at their City Market location at 1650 Lonsdale Ave.
The city should make an exception to their one-kilometre rule in light of the demand for drinks in the neighbourhood, according to Jones.
The company commissioned a market analysis that found a demand for $14.7 million of liquor sales – meaning there’s room for another store and also that there’s currently “leakage” of sales to other neighbourhoods, according to Jones.
Representing her pub about 300 metres down the road, Alison Rakis said Jack Lonsdale’s Public House needs the one-kilometre rule.
“We will not be able to compete with the large grocery chains, as they will use wine and alcohol specials to attract customers,” she said.
With breweries, grocery stores and restaurants all bellying up to the bar, pubs are getting elbowed out, according to Sailor Hagar’s co-owner Brian Riedlinger.
“I do not understand why the provincial government is set on destroying a once-vibrant neighbourhood pub industry,” he said. “We need some certainty in the marketplace in order for us to be able to re-invest in our businesses and secure our future.”
Council also heard from Gull Liquor Store manager Todd von Heintschel, who opposed Save-On-Foods’ application to sell wine from their store across the parking lot.
There is no void of B.C. wines that needs to be filled, according to von Heintschel, who also opposed the application on the grounds of health.
While customers with alcohol addictions can avoid stand-alone stores completely, those same customers would be challenged by the “increased availability and visibility of alcohol” during their daily shopping, he argued.
While he supported Keating’s motion, Mayor Darrell Mussatto suggested Save-On-Foods could stock reds and white without poaching customers from the Gull. The mayor noted that before moving into their new location as part of the Onni development at 1308 Lonsdale, Liberty Wine Merchants shared Park and Tilford successfully.
In prior discussions, Coun. Holly Back has been critical of the city’s one-kilometre rules, advocating wine in grocery stores and questioning the wisdom of “protecting one business and not another.”
The city’s pub proprietors need some answers from the provincial government, said Coun. Linda Buchanan.
“They’re here, and they should be actually in their businesses doing their business,” she said.
Buchanan agreed that there was no shortage of alcohol in the city.
“I’m 100 per cent behind our small businesses,” she said. “They cannot compete with provincial and national corporations.”
B.C.’s previous government “stonewalled us,” surmised Coun. Rod Clark.
However, Clark said he was concerned Keating’s motion might create “an endless loop” of communication with the LDB.
It would be better for everyone to have some certainty and some security, according to Coun. Pam Bookham.
While Bookham supported Keating’s motion, she also pushed him for a definitive decision.
“I’m not sure what the benefit of kicking this can down the road is to our community.”
The North Shore has generally kept wine out of grocery stores, with the exception of the Save-On-Foods at Pemberton Plaza in the District of North Vancouver. Because the zoning already permitted the sale of alcohol there was no council approval required, according to district spokeswoman Stephanie Smiley.
