Dear Premier Wynne,
You and your government have no doubt been following closely the latest developments in the controversy that surrounds the existence of The Beer Store in this province. I understand that you currently have a commission lead by Mr. Ed Clark tasked with reviewing the current system and are awaiting his report, and I have no interest in interfering with or impeding those efforts. What I would like to do, however, is add a voice I believe has been lacking from the debate to date, that of the Ontario beer consumer.
Thus far, Premier Wynne, most of the discussion surrounding the future of The Beer Store has revolved around finance and access for small breweries. What has not been properly addressed, however, are the needs and, indeed, the rights of those beer consumers who desire selection and choice, a group that sales statistics suggest is the fastest growing class of beer drinker not just in Ontario but across North America and around the world. For those individuals, The Beer Store is a miserable failure, and no offer of token ownership or reduced listing fees for Ontario small-scale brewers is going to change that.
I have written about beer for a quarter-century and during that time have witnessed admirable advances in beer retailing on the part of the LCBO. Recognizing trends in beer consumption, LCBO stores have become havens for Ontario Craft Brewers Association member breweries and have likewise expanded significantly selections of imported beers in a diversity of styles. But the LCBO’s mandate means that it only has so much space to devote to beer, and thus is limited in how far its beer program may expand.
Change at The Beer Store, on the other hand, has occurred at a glacial pace, when it has occurred at all. In most locations, consumers are still left with only a wall of tiny label illustrations to use as a guide for their purchases, while at a minority of more “advanced” outlets we are allowed to wander through a walk-in refrigerator in desperate and frigid search for something other than the big brewery brands. The proposed changes The Beer Store unveiled last week, while superficially of some benefit to the province’s craft breweries – although that is by no means a proven fact – does nothing for Ontario’s beer consumers save to perhaps add a brand or three to the stocks of the local store.
Obviously, the large and rapidly growing class of modern, non-brand-loyal beer consumers is ill-served by the present situation, and the few extra label illustrations on the wall or six-packs in a corner that The Beer Store’s latest initiatives will yield shall do nothing to change that fact. The time has therefore come, Premier Wynne, for the introduction of a third way in the form of a parallel class of privately owned specialty beer stores.
Across Canada, provinces have allowed the existence of specialty alcohol retailers with no adverse effects on either government revenues or social order. Consumers benefit from increased selection and, in many cases, stronger product knowledge from the salespeople involved; local brewers and importers benefit from an increase in sales outlets; and the province is able to continue on with both The Beer Store and the LCBO, the former of which will retain its important role as a reuse and recycling depot. It is, quite simply, a win-win-win situation.
I strongly urge you and your government to consider this option, Premier Wynne. Ontario is filled with entrepreneurs who will, I’m certain, be more than happy to take on this challenge, just as it is filled with beer drinkers who will appreciate being allowed the freedom of choice currently experienced by legions of others across this great nation.
Yours sincerely,
Stephen Beaumont
