British Columbia has seen a fairly comprehensive overhaul of the province's liquor laws, most of which are making various spirits easier to access. While not everything is applicable to Saskatchewan, there is one part that actually is, a move to allow alcohol to be sold in grocery stores. Should this be something adopted in this province?
There have been moves to make the alcohol market in the province a bit more open to competition, mostly in allowing private liquor stores instead of just government-run SLGA stores. There has been much less movement towards having alcohol right in the middle of the grocery store. Even in provinces where the liquor laws are significantly more open to a private store than they are here, it's still often the case that the focus is on keeping the groceries separate from the spirits.
For the consumer, such a move would be convenient at least, one-stop shopping for all party supplies. The question is whether such a move would actually be helpful for most consumers, and I'm actually not convinced it would be.
The issue with alcohol sales in the grocery store is largely concerned with space. If one takes a look at the floor plan of any of the city's grocery stores and that of the local liquor stores it becomes clear that the latter will not fit in the former. A modern supermarket might be big, but it's packed, and shelf space is really at a premium. There's no way for a grocery store to offer the same variety as a dedicated liquor store, there's simply not enough room, and not enough incentive to do a total renovation just to fit in a decent variety.
That leads me to my main point, I want that variety. Whether or not there's a big market for the more obscure drinks at the local alcohol dispensary, I want those options, since that's what I buy. A specialty store would have difficulty maintaining a market if a grocery is selling all of the more popular brands, but that same grocery store really does not have much incentive to carry the more obscure products, especially since there are only so many shelves. With the current system, and some private options, there is still enough shelf space to stock a wide variety of product.
As someone who doesn't actually drink mainstream lagers, I personally like systems where privatization is allowed, but alcohol is still sold in a separate location. That means there still needs to be enough variety to justify a separate store, but you still get the benefits of competition. It would also mean that a grocery store doesn't have to try to fit in a decent alcohol department which would be convenient, but limited by its very nature.
This is naturally not the actual reason why liquor stores have been kept separate from the grocery. That is more closely related to a desire to keep alcohol away from kids and present it as something other than family friendly. That's fine, noble even, but the unintended side effect is that a larger liquor store has incentive to diversify and present a wide selection of alternatives to consumers. A grocery store doesn't have that incentive, shelf space is at a premium, even for the largest store in the province. It's selfish, I know, but I want a system that gives the consumer a surplus of choice.
