The Beer Store
Brewers Retail Inc. foundeed in 1927, is a privately owned chain of retail outlets in Ontario, Canada, that operates as The Beer Store. Ontario government regulations regarding the sales of alcohol gives the chain a near-monopoly of domestic retail beer sales in Ontario. These regulations stipulate that Brewers Retail cannot sell "hard liquor" (spirits), or consumer goods (like groceries). Its only legal competition is found in the beer sections of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) stores, which also sell imported beer, and retail outlets at breweries.
Company
The company is owned by the Labatt arm of InBev of Belgium, Molson Coors of Canada and the United States and Sleeman Breweries which is based in Guelph. Although founded by the Government of Ontario, it is only linked by a relationship with Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO).
It has over 430 retail stores, operating as The Beer Store, which sell beer to the general public. It also has the exclusive right to sell domestic beer to Ontario bars and restaurants, of which more than 17,000 are licensed to sell alcohol.
History
The company began in 1927, with the end of prohibition in Ontario. The provincial government, trying to placate angry temperance advocates, agreed that beer would be sold through a single network of stores. However, the government did not want to operate this network itself (as was done in some other Canadian provinces), and so permitted brewers to organize the Brewers Warehousing Company Ltd., which later became Brewers Retail.
Brewers Retail sells over 90% of the beer sold in Ontario. Despite its near-monopoly, it is permitted to charge non-shareholding breweries listing fees for each beer carried in stock. This practice has been criticized as restricting competition in the Ontario beer market, especially from smaller brewers. Although the province-owned LCBO also sells beer to the general public, Brewers Retail is the sole distributer to restaurants and bars. Brewers Retail has become politically controversial especially following the Molson-Coors merger, which placed the majority of its ownership in the hands of foreign brewers. In 2005, Ontario's alcohol laws were reviewed and proposals to allow the sale of beer in grocery and convienience stores were put forth. However, the government rejected the proposals and decided not to change the laws. The government has recieved considerable criticism for allowing what is now essentially a non-Canadian owned cartel to operate in the province, especially from Canadian nationalists.
Brewers Retail also received negative publicity in 2002 when it used monopolistic tactics to force the Brick_Brewing Company of Waterloo to stop offering beer in "Stubbies" by witholding supplies of industry standard "long-necked bottles.
As of 2005, The Beer Store offers 300 brands from 70 brewers in 436 stores province wide.
Map Publisher
In the 1980's Brewers Retail published a directory of its retail locations in a booklet with a small map to each locatoin. It had a picture of an animal, (a peguine maybe) on the covers. The booklet when closed was approximately 4 inch by 3 inch. The 1972 version issued by Brewers Retail had cartography by Rolph-McNally.[1]
External link
