Beginning Thursday, there will be thousands of new options available for those who are looking for an alcoholic drink in Ontario as Premier Doug Ford’s push to change how Ontarians can get their booze continues.
The march to change alcohol sales in Ontario began during Ford’s initial election campaign in 2018, as he pledged to change a setup with mostly limited alcohol purchases in Ontario to LCBO and Beer Stores as well as a few dozen grocery stores.
The first domino to fall in Ford’s plan finally came to fruition in July, as the offerings at grocery stores was expanded to include ready-to-drink beverages and large beer pack sizes.
The next step is to allow convenience stores to get in on the action. In May, the province announced a plan to allow convenience stores to begin selling alcohol in September.
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario announced that new and existing convenience and grocery stores across the province could apply for licences on June 17. As of August 26, AGCO says it has issued 4,074 convenience store licences and 159 Grocery Store licences. This means well over half of the 6,700 convenience stores across Ontario have been granted licences.
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One of those corner stores, which is located in Toronto, has already had its licence suspended after it was allegedly selling booze before they were allowed to.
The organization says that a majority of those who were granted licences had already been approved to sell lottery, liquor or groceries by AGCO.
The province has also put up a map, which will allow for those in need to break down their search by the type of store as well as the type of libation that they seek. You can find the map here.
The next step in the plan to spread the booze will see big box stores to sell alcohol in November.
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