Some grocery stores will stock more Ontario craft brew than required

A federal judge a year ago ruled the state law is constitutional and IN has a rational basis for not allowing grocery and convenience stores to sell chilled beer. At least 20 per cent of grocers’ shelf space for beer must be dedicated to products from small brewers.

60 stores will be able to offer suds today, with the majority in the GTA.

By mid-2016 it is expected that 150 Ontario supermarkets will be selling beer. Residents in the Greater Toronto Area will reportedly have 25 stores available to assuage their thirst. The group aimed to invalidate the law and make chilled beer available in a wider range of stores.

Making it more convenient to buy beer is all about making life easier for people who lead busy lives, said Wynne. Prices will be set by the provincially operated LCBO.

“You can probably buy a six-pack of tall boys and you get pretty close to a 12-pack”, said Finance Minister Charles Sousa.

“Grocery retailers look forward to increasing consumer choice and convenience in a responsible way as Ontario rolls out the sale of beer in grocery stores”, added David Wilkes, senior vice-president of the Retail Council of Canada in a press release.

It will herald that up to 60 locations will be authorized to sell six-packs within the next two weeks. “With this new power to sell beer employers have a responsibility to address precarious working conditions and create good jobs for the project to flourish”.

Last month, the province announced a list of 13 winning bidders selected to sell beer in grocery stores across Ontario which include a mix of independent and large grocers.

By May 2017, there will be 150 Ontario supermarkets selling beer, eventually rising to a maximum 450 of the province’s 1,500 grocery stores.

You can find a variety of beer brands including small microbreweries.

The new arrangement effectively breaks the de facto monopoly The Beer Store has had on retailing beer in the province since the prohibition era of the 1920s. Numerous beers it is stocking have always been available within the shopping plaza.

I’m glad that we’re slowly moving away from the Puritanical 19th Century liquor laws in this Province.