The president and CEO of the Canadian Distillers Association says the move to sell alcohol in grocery stores could have disastrous consequences, especially in Essex County, if not done properly.
Jan Westcott says while consumers were intrigued with the convenience of buying beer and spirits while they bought groceries, it resulted in hundreds of job losses as distillers in the province shut down. "It killed the business in Quebec," and he warns Ontario could suffer the same fate if the provincial government doesn't tread carefully.
He points to a recent study of shoppers at the LCBO. "A full 25% of those people said they would probably buy their beverage alcohol products when they go to do their grocery shopping," he says. "If you're the president of Canadian Tire and somebody said to you 25% of your customers were never going to come back to your store, you'd go crazy."
Westcott plans to drive home his point when he meets with Essex Mayor Ron McDermott and County Warden Tom Bain today, warning the impact will stretch beyond just Hiram Walker in Windsor and Diageo in Amherstburg. "We are the fourth largest purchaser of corn in the province, a great deal of which comes from Essex County."