Eat & Drink
What are the best & worst LCBO locations in Toronto?
Not all LCBO locations are created equally. Sure there's some consistency when it comes to main brands of booze on offer, but given varying floor space, the selection varies considerably from store to store. Then's there's the Vintages issue — you know that fancy wood-paneled area that the wine snobs flock to? The best stores have sprawling Vintages areas, where you can buy wine and spirits that the LCBO buys on a one-off basis (as opposed to the perpetually replenished regular stock), not all of which is particularly expensive. Variety is the spice of life, guys — especially when it comes to liquor, so those little stores that only have a shelf or two of Vintages offerings can get pretty boring.
There are, of course, other factors to be considered. Line-ups (here's looking at you Atrium on Bay), the general seediness of the location (Hi, Galleria Mall) and the hours of operation (would everyone suddenly become an alcoholic if more locations were open past 9pm?).
Because we hate science, we decided to conduct a Twitter poll to get to the bottom of this all important question: what are the best and worst LCBO locations. Here are some general observations:
Best candidates
Summerhill / Scrivner Square
Queens Quay
Bayview Village
St. Lawrence Market (post-reno)
Worst candidates
Galleria Mall
Spadina & Baldwin
Atrium on Bay
North York Centre
Maple Leaf Gardens
Gerrard and Pape
All of them (blah, blah, blah monopolies)
What do you think? Got a candidate to add to these lists? Let us know in the comments.
Discussion
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2 more candidates for best: Avenue Rd near Lawrence, Bloor near Royal York.
And if you are going to complain about liquor monopolies, pile on The Beer Store, not the LCBO.
But I guess that's my fault for living in Mimico.
Can we get a moment of silence for the shuttered Yonge and Davisville location, now bulldozed to make way for (you guessed it) a condo? It was huge, bright, great vintages section and friendly staff to boot. Alas.
As for worst: the one near St. Clair West and Winona definitely gets sketchy after dark. I've seen more than one drunken fight outside.
Best is liberty village. New, huge store, fantastic beer selection.
Spacious, nice vintages section.
Not as many seedy characters
The LCBO outside the Promenade Mall (I know in Thornhill, outside Toronto) is very large similar to the Dufferin and Wilson location.
Should be ready by the summer.
That one will surely be a pretty nice spot.
So many "worst" LCBOs. Yonge & Eg is really bad, as is the temporary one that replaced Yonge & Davisville.
First Canadian is a hidden gem if you're looking for interesting higher end wine. Absolutely no room at all, but great if you're in a bank tower and have a couple hundred or more to spend.
Worst in the west end: Bloor-Ossy (ugly, small, outdated)
Worst in the east end: Coxwell/O'Connor, good size, hasn't been updated since the early 80s, not maintained well either.
Worst for overcrowding (too small to meet demand): Atrium
Worst for in the core (looks/size): Chinatownw or Yonge/Wellesley
Best overall: Summerhill
Best Downtown: Manulife or St. Lawrence
Best in the west: Liberty Village
Best in the east: Queen/Coxwell
Derek,
Just a thought; how about a follow-up to this piece where you turn over the results to the LCBO and get their comment on what they are going to do to improve "The Worst" stores.
We can stop the comments now
The beer section is a large refrigerated room that stocks some obscure stuff, both Canadian and imported. This excited my beer nerd boyfriend, who pointed out beers that he didn't know that the LCBO even carried. We wouldn't have discovered it if not for a visit to Costco, after which we were looking for a nearby LCBO.
Of course, you can search for products on the LCBO website before you go and make a game of it.
The Dufferin and Wilson LCBO is just west of Wilson subway station, making it convenient for the many carless citizens among us.
My story aside, it's the worst LCBO I've been to in the GTA region: it's small, the layout is awkward, the selection is limited and it's always running low on the basics. They also need a way to allow customers to enter from the mall exterior, freeing up the entrance where lineups are the norm.
My vote for the worst is the Yonge and Wellesley location. Always packed full of bums, no room to and not particularly clean. Staff are ok, though.
Don't really see the hate for Maple Leaf Gardens. Not the greatest selection, but not the worst, either. Nice wide aisles, staff are friendly. It's nice to be able to grab booze while you're doing your grocery shopping, too.
Summerhill, Queens Quai, Bayview Village and Weston are all quite good. Summerhill wins, being the most accessible by transit and always having a room for parking.
That said All of them (blah, blah, blah monopolies)
Worst: Bloor/Oss. I live a block from this one and try to avoid it at all costs. Don't even bother going in there after 7 on a Fri or Sat. They're out of nearly everything by then.
Small store but it filled a void.
Worst - Jane & Wilson - just scary - cop on duty all the time. Dundas & Dovercourt - trendy area but not in this LCBO. Selection is limited. Leslie & York Mills - new store but small selection. Eglinton & Brimley - too close to a needle house. Sandhurst - terrible selection.
For many years if you lived in little Italy and wanted a bottle of wine you had a minimum 1.2km walk to the nearest LCBO (Spadina, Bloor and Ossington, Dundas and Ossington), all of which are pretty awful in their own ways.
The LCBO then dropped a tiny store in with a very limited selection, and few high end products despite being a fairly affluent neighborhood. If you want a tallboy and a $9 bottle of wine, this is the place for you. Well, unless you go after work or anytime Friday when the lineup goes to the back of the store and wraps back around a bit.
BTW, honorable mention to the Leaside LCBO on Laird. The Vintages guy does a great job. And yes they're moving into a bigger store at that plaza.
Source - friend who works at LCBO head office.