The LCBO Strike Threat Proves We Need Privately Run Wine Stores

If there was ever a better example of why Ontario needs to open up its liquor retail sales to private entrepreneurship, it happened this week.

For the last few days hype and anxiety had been growing that the LCBO’s nearly 7,000 unionized employees would walk off the job.

Not to be toyed with, the union chose the petulant deadline of today – the Friday of the May long weekend – one of the busiest of the year, as the day they’d hit the picket lines.

Not surprisingly, panic ensued, as consumers, sales agents, restauranteurs and anyone else with an interest in having a readily available booze supply on hand took to the LCBO in droves over the last few days, filling parking lots, creating traffic jams and loading up carts with cases upon cases of stock. Recent numbers even suggest Wednesday sales hit more than $28 million – a 156% increase over last year.

Out of macabre interest, Erin visited a store near Dupont and Spadina during the noon hour the day before the axe threatened to drop. The roughly 40-spot parking lot was nearly constantly full – as one car pulled out another quickly filled the vacancy. The store’s sliding door may as well have been propped open – as it barely began to shut before needing to reopen for another stream of shoppers entering and exiting.

Inside was busy – all the cashiers open with line ups 3-4 deep – but it wasn’t mayhem. Perhaps most surprisingly, the day before a proposed walk out over job security, part time staff and health and safety concerns, staff were smiling, kind and helpful.

To be fair, we more often than not receive very good service from LCBO staff, who generally go the extra mile retrieving bottles out of the back, taking them to our car – even spending significant amounts of time scouring the system in search of an elusive wine, then offering to order it to that store to save us a trip. And we give them full kudos for a job well done.

Neither are we advocating a race to the bottom – we believe Ontarions deserve good paying jobs, decent benefits, more holiday time, not less, and if job security exists at all anymore (which a simple glance around any industry would suggest it doesn’t), then diligent, hard-working employees should get it.

But what about the other working stiffs who depend on Ontario’s liquor board to help them bring home the bacon? The wineries, distillieries and sales agents from both local and from afar, whose only recourse to sell to Canada’s most populous province is to go through the almighty Liquor Control Board of Ontario?

It would seem to us in the face of this most recent strike threat opening the system to privately owned stores just makes sense.

While we’ve mentioned this before, the ground swell keeps building – just last week the Economic Club of Canada hosted a luncheon with guest speaker Ian Baillie, Executive Director of BC’s Alliance of Beverage Licenses (ABLE). Baillie told the room of roughly 200 guests or so, of BC’s experiences since adopting its wildly successful public/private system a decade ago.

“In BC, we have 125 VQA wineries, producing at least 1000 different types of wine,” Baillie informed the crowd. “Of those 1,000 wines, only 260 are currently available in government stores. However, unlike Ontario, those 740 other wines not carried in government stores are available in private stores.”

By comparison, Ontario has 135 wineries producing 3,000 wines every year. The LCBO stocks 200. Wineries sell the rest from their cellar doors.

“Unless [consumers] happen to visit each winery, most Ontarions will never know these wines exist,” insists Baillie. “The result is diminished choice for consumers but also an unnecessary barrier for many producers.”

Both Baillie and Wine Country Ontario admit the LCBO does a great job at handling the massive volume that flows through its doors every year – its even increased VQA offerings from 37 in 2007 to more than 60 in 2012. But both parties say the LCBO just can’t keep up with the increase in demand, as with any major chain the LCBO requires consistency and large volume to fill its limited shelf space. Boutique wineries are doomed from the start.

This frustrating reality prompted Wine Country Ontario late last year to launch mywineshop.ca – a fun website which allows people to design their own wine stores and send a letter to their MPP in support of opening up liquor retail sales to the private entrepreneur.

Shortly after, former Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan announced the province will open 10 new LCBO kiosks in grocery stores for consumer convenience. But Baillie says this will do nothing to offer more selection to shoppers.

“Your existing LCBO stores aren’t able to stock a broad range of products due to size and volume restrictions. So how will opening 10 smaller stores anything to change that?”

And it’s not just Ontario wineries feeling the sting of not getting into the provincially-run store. Anecdotally, on many of our wine trips to Europe, the US and elsewhere, winemakers we’ve met have said they just can’t be bothered to go through the expense and hassle of getting listed at the LCBO.

This is where private entrepreneurship could flourish alongside the public system, in a scenario where everyone wins, says Baillie.

“These private stores are more flexible because they operate at a smaller scale than government stores. As a result they can offer new products not previously available. And besides new choice for consumers, they also support producers by creating new opportunities to sell their products…. By letting private stores test new products, government stores can then choose to carry the successful ones with no risk. From a retail perspective, that’s a pretty great deal.”

If you would like to send a letter to your MPP in support of a private/public liquor stores system, visit mywineshop.ca