Alberta liquor retailers reject idea of expanding alcohol sales to groceries, corner stores

People working in Alberta's liquor industry say they're perplexed to see the provincial government con‐ sider letting grocers and corner stores sell alcohol in an already privatized retail system.

Dale Nally, the minister re‐ sponsible for Alberta liquor, gaming and cannabis, ac‐ knowledged this month that a panel of MLAs is studying the idea.

"We heard about some in‐ novative things that Ontario is doing, getting liquor on the grocery store shelves," Nally told reporters last week.

"I wouldn't be doing my job as the minister if we did‐ n't take a look at it."

Nally's press secretary, Nicky Gocuan, told CBC News in a statement that the gov‐ ernment assembled a group to study liquor sales in late December. The panel in‐ cludes United Conservative Party MLAs Andrew Boitchenko, Brandon Lunty, Scott Sinclair and Chelsae Petrovic.

The move was "driven by media inquiries to govern‐ ment after Ontario proposed a significant change in its re‐ tail liquor model," the state‐ ment said.

To date, the panel has consulted with provincial reg‐ ulator Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC), liquor retailers, grocery and convenience operators, ware‐ houses, and responsible-use advocacy groups Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Alberta Liquor Store Asso‐ ciation president Ivonne Mar‐ tinez said when she submit‐ ted feedback to the panel in March, her message was clear.

"Industry is 100 per cent opposed to this," she said.

New competition from large grocery and conve‐ nience chains could be disas‐ trous for many of Alberta's independently owned liquor stores, Martinez said.

"We wait to hear what the panel is recommending to the minister. But we would say that it would be a cata‐ strophic initiative for our in‐ dustry for sure," she said.

"Nobody's asking for this. So why are we looking at this? Why are we trying to find a solution to a problem that doesn't exist?"

Gocuan said Albertans are also being consulted through a public opinion survey. It's unclear whether the survey already happened, or if it's rolling out in the future.

No decisions have been made - Nally said he still has‐ n't seen the MLA panel's re‐ port on the feedback they gathered, but he expects to say more about the issue soon.

"I always look through the filter of, 'What do Albertans want?' And so that would help form my decisions, is what do Albertans want us to do."

John Graham, government relations director for the Re‐ tail Council of Canada's Prair‐ ie region, said various indus‐ try groups have weighed in so far.

"It seems to be something that specific types of conve‐ nience stores and retailers are more interested in," he said, adding the impact of any change comes down to the details.

"Ontario is now just start‐ ing to expand, more deliber‐ ately, the private-sector re‐ tailing of liquor, where Alber‐ ta has this existing system, where there would be oppor‐ tunities for some and signifi‐ cant disruption to others if a change was to occur."

How the Ontario liquor model compares

In December, Ontario Pre‐ mier Doug Ford announced that starting in 2026, the gov‐ ernment will allow sales of beer, wine, coolers and seltzers at some gas stations, convenience stores and su‐ permarkets.

In that province, the gov‐ ernment-owned Liquor Con‐ trol Board of Ontario (LCBO) is in charge of the majority of retail alcohol sales, while Al‐ berta has had a fully priva‐ tized system for more than 30 years.

Martinez said that makes for a completely different conversation on the local im‐ pact of changing liquor retail rules.

"We're the leaders. They should be following us and not vice versa. Ontario is still

very much trying to figure out what they want to do with their liquor system," she said.

Ontario's move will signifi‐ cantly expand where alcohol can be sold, and will increase access, since LCBO locations often close by 9 p.m., and are usually also closed or operat‐ ing on limited hours on holi‐ days.

That's not the case in Al‐ berta, where there are more than 1,500 privately owned liquor stores across the province, and they're allowed to keep their doors open as late as 2 a.m.

Large grocery retailers, in‐ cluding Loblaws, Sobeys and Costco, already operate their own standalone liquor stores in Alberta, often in the same shopping complexes as their grocery stores.

"You can't throw a rock without bouncing it off two liquor stores, pretty much in any city or town in Alberta," said Tom Bell, manager of Edmonton store Sandy Lane Liquor.

"We don't need more places to go - we already have it. That's really the goal in Ontario, and it's not neces‐ sary here."

Bell wonders how super‐ markets and corner stores would handle the numerous rules in place for liquor retail‐ ers, from the prohibition on employing anyone younger than 18 to the requirement of assessing whether cus‐ tomers are intoxicated and potentially refusing service.

Alberta already has some alcohol sales in convenience stores: 11 licensed 7-Eleven stores are allowed to sell beer and wine from a divided restaurant area of the store, and customers can leave with sealed bottles and cans as "takeout."

Those locations are li‐ censed similarly to restauran‐ ts where minors are allowed, while liquor stores have a dif‐ ferent AGLC licence that comes with more stringent rules.

Sandy Lane Liquor shares a parking lot with a gas sta‐ tion. Bell said many liquor store owners seek out similar types of locations for cus‐ tomer convenience.

His business has been more sustainable with a more specialized focus on lo‐ cal craft beers and spirits. But he said for owners of smaller stores, the idea of even more competition - po‐ tentially from large corpora‐ tions - is hard to swallow.

"We have people who have invested their lives into this model for the past 30 years," he said.

"So where is this push coming from? I just don't un‐ derstand the reasoning be‐ hind it."