Eat & Drink
The Luck of the Liquor Store
I'm not one with a heavy predilection for conspiracy theorizing, but when I recently came across a Vintages document related to the LCBO's Trade Day Presentation of April 15th, I heard myself make an audible "hmmmmm."
Although it was only a few days ago that I was desperately looking for alternatives to the LCBO in fear of a strike, now that it's been averted, I'm dwelling on the mind-boggling sales that took place the day before the strike might have begun. According to LCBO spokesman, Chris Layton, "it was [the] highest single selling day ever," with some reports estimating the province-wide take at upwards of 60 million dollars.
What do I find coincidental about all this? Well, a look at the document (see pp. 29, 55-6), which was made public shortly after the presentation, reveals that prior to the strike the LCBO was dealing with an overstock problem. With the "retail inventory at [an] historic high level", the purchasing frenzy brought on by the looming strike was, if nothing else, wonderfully serendipitous and convenient.
But, as I said, I'm not a true conspiracy theorist, so I don't want to give the impression that I believe the union and employees were somehow in cahoots with the LCBO in concocting some master plan to deal with the overstock problem. As someone who's worked in a sessional and part time capacity at Ontario universities and colleges, I'm more than sympathetic to the desire of these employees to gain long-term stability and benefits, and I have zero desire to trivialize their position.
Having said that, I'm not suggesting that some brilliant but disingenuous geniuses at the LCBO prolonged strike negotiations to solve their overstock problems. The little part of me that still somehow resists cynicism and trusts government run organizations just can't quite get there.
At the end of the day, I suppose I'll chalk this one up to that strange law that seems to dictate that the rich always get richer. Monopolies like the LCBO shouldn't need luck. But it looks like that's exactly what they got, and in spades.
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If so, the significance of the overstock issue (relative to overall inventory) may not have been so substantial. Also, the evidently depleted in-store inventories would seem to have been in non-Vintages SKUs. So I don't see how selling out on Russian Prince (or whatever) due to pre-strike stockpiling would help clear out their high-end wines. I know my local LCBO still has plenty of expensive wine on hand, and I don't know anyone who reacted to the prospect of a strike by snagging what they would normally view as "luxury" bottles (the kind of purchase reserved for a special occasion).
Another perspective would be that a near-strike and the excess high-priced inventory are not causally related so much as they are both symptoms of a broader strategic management deficit.
I'm stuck drinking sulphite-free wines, in any case, and it's not so easy to find those in (at least my local's) Vintages...
if it's true that it was staged, I don't think the part-time employee would have anything to do with it.
Not that Alberta's pricing is so great anymore, but my point is that privatizing alcohol sales doesn't necessarily ruin a province. Instead, it offers consumers more choice in terms of brands, more locations and holiday hours.
Or maybe it should go the way of the beer store and be sold to a conglomerate of brewers? Only a couple more houses on that and they can build a hotel. Then we can all go back to arguing whether we prefer Molson Canadian or Molson Dry... I know I'm salivating already.
You got it opposite. One of biggest drawbacks to the LCBO is that people who HAVE traveled and returned to their monopoly can't find what they want in Ontario. Selection is very limited here. And sour, flat, thin reds from Ontario are not going to be everyone's taste, no matter how much our local industry gets pampered by privileges not extended to imported products.
THAT is right on the money and the #1 thing that the LCBO's defenders don't understand. Basically, the LCBO is the "The Bay" of liquor retailing. Lots of Yellow Tail, a few good things if you're lucky enough to live near a big one, but FAR from great. BC wines, anyone?
Oh, and they refuse to open a store in Roncesvalles because there's "not enough parking".
On Alberta, friends from Calgary visited us a couple years ago and we served a California Cab they quite liked so I lifted the label for them, it was a vintages essential, something I can walk off the street and buy at most stores 345 days a year. He went to his "good" wine store in Calgary and showed him the label, the guy laughed, then said, we got six bottles of that this year and it was already spoken for when it came in, I can put your name on the list for when I get some from the next vintage...shortly afterwards I was recounting this story to someone else who was touting the Alberta approach and his response was "oh well you don't actually go to the local stores, there are a couple big stores that run web sites, you go online and order what you want and you'll usually get it in a few days or weeks. Yah, that's convenience for you, it works out to be no different than the LCBO consignment sales goat rodeo only worse because most brick and mortar stores have garbage selection.
The idea that the LCBOs selection is weak is an urban myth, yes there is an issue, because of the way they buy you'll almost never see small production wines except for a small percentage of them that appear in some vintages contexts (mostly the classics catalogue) but you can get that stuff through consignment if you really want it. I can go into ANY LCBO store and get a decent selection of midprice product from Spain, Italy, France and California and a smattering of South American and African. Walk blind into a random wine store in NY state (closed on Sundays) and you will find more variety in what they specialize in but it won't be unusual to find local stores that have almost nothing outside big market French names, California and Oregon.
If you also went on the spending spree and are not totally satisfied with your purchases. You can return the UNOPEN BOTTLE to an LCBO for an exchange at face value. Even if you don't have a receipt.
I have done it before, they give you a replacement bottle :)