The B.C. government has signalled it will allow beer and wine sales within grocery stores, but don't expect it to happen soon or come cheap, says a North Shore private liquor store manager.
Attorney General Suzanne Anton and John Yap, parliamentary secretary for liquor reform, announced the change at a Jan. 31 press conference, along with 71 other recommended tweaks to the way B.C. handles its liquor.
Adding booze to the grocery list was one of the most popular suggestions given to the province after months of consultation, but the province will not change its moratorium on new licences. Under provincial rules, existing licences can't be moved from one municipality to another.
The result: if a grocery store wants to sell alcohol, its owners will have to buy an existing licence from a nearby store and shut it down.
"For your average, small Ma and Pop operation, that's really going to drive the price of those licences up," said Chris Funnell, manager of 16th Street Liquor in West Vancouver.
The cost of those new licences is likely going to show up in the cost of a bottle at the store, Funnell said. "People seem to think beer and wine in grocery stores is going to be cheap. Well, it's not. It's going to be more expensive," he said.
The high cost of a licence will mean only large corporations like the Jim Pattison Group, which owns Save On Foods, Urban Fare, PriceSmart and a number of other grocery chains, will be able to buy in, Funnell said.
Funnell doesn't expect any West Vancouver stores are ready to give up their licences but there may be some "in play" in North Vancouver.
"There are many more licences that will probably become more available in North Vancouver, based on sales and potential revenue," he said. "A lot of these operators will look at the cash-out and say 'It's worth it for us to step out of this altogether and double our money on our licences.'"
Among the other recommendations the government has pledged to act on: permitting reducedprice "happy hours" at restaurants, allowing liquor stores to set up growler filling stations for fresh craft beer, more flexibility for bar, restaurant and live venues' liquor licences, loosening restrictions on where alcohol is allowed within hotels, cutting red tape for special occasion licences like weddings and tournaments, and no longer requiring alcohol at festivals be kept to beer gardens.
"At family-friendly events, like most music festivals, for example, parents should be able to wander the grounds with their kids and watch the band rather than be caged off in a corner just so they can enjoy a pint," Anton said at the press conference.
The District of West Vancouver, which organizes the annual Harmony Arts Festival, will be looking into whether that is feasible for the event, according to Jeff McDonald, district spokesman.
None of the proposed liquor law changes will come into effect until the province has changed the legislation and written new policy, which is expected to take place over the next year.
