ONTARIO-Suds and cider will soon be served at 95 more grocery stores across the province.
Grocers can bid online for an additional 95 authorizations to sell beer and cider starting today. Authorized grocery locations will be announced next year, with sales expected to start in April 2018.
This would bring the total to more than 300 grocery stores that would be authorized to sell beer and cider. Additional opportunities for grocers to bid for the sale of wine, along with beer and cider, are still to be announced.
Grocery stores that sell wine, beer or cider must meet Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario requirements. By law, in addition to having designated sales areas and standardized hours, they must comply with rules for package size, alcohol content and staff training.
Here’s how to process will work:
1.Grocers are invited to register via https://www.biddingo.com/ to submit their bid to the LCBO under request for bid # 2017-002 by 10:00:59 am Eastern Standard Time on November 6, 2017.
2.Once successful bidders receive an authorization from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, they will then be permitted to obtain beer and cider from the LCBO for resale at their authorized grocery store locations.
Currently more than 200 grocery stores across Ontario are authorized to sell beer and cider, 70 of which can also sell wine. Ultimately, beer and cider will be available in up to 450 grocery stores, including up to 300 that will also sell wine. This is in addition to more than 450 Beer Stores and 660 LCBO stores across Ontario.