The Beer Store - Another Look

 

Artsy Beer Store Beer

 I come here not to bury The Beer Store, nor to praise it. I come here today to talk about what most folks who aren't me, or beer drinkers like me, think about the it and the impending changes coming to the selling and distribution of beer in this province.

  Short answer...most people don't give a shit.

  Longer short answer...they just want to get their 24's, return their empties and get on with their day. 

Beer Fridge, 2014ish

  Until about ten years ago, I so rarely bought beer at the LCBO that it wouldn't register on my radar as an option. It didn't cross my mind to get my beer anywhere else but the Beer Store, bring back my empties, grab another 24 and away I went. A simple, singular transaction that took place in a building filled with olfactory nostalgia that hits me with memories of summer afternoons getting to go with my Pop as he was picking up a pack for the weekend. It never occurred to me that there were small breweries in Ontario to buy beer at or that I would ever bother going to them and paying a little more for the drunken satisfaction I sought every time I grabbed a case. I cared not for variety, only the best price and quickest in and out I could get. Convenience sold then and it still does now.

I did so love the Beer of Summer, circa 2013

  The change in the beer drinking landscape in the last decade or so has been tremendous no doubt, but the craft beer segment of consumers still makes up a relatively small percentage of overall beer sales, despite what those of us who have become so immersed and invested emotionally in believing in what we see as better beer and a better way to make and sell it. To say we can't see the forest for the trees wants me to admit we look any further than our own beer glasses and as someone who spends most of his time with people who see craft beer as a novelty, somewhat expensive and out of their comfort zone, I know what I think of The Beer Store isn't in the majority. 

  I understand the monopoly of the three headed mega beer corporations, with a smattering of craft brewers trying to swing for the fences, isn't the best way to sell beer anywhere, I also know that most folks do not care or have it on their radar to do anything else. Beer in grocery stores is a lovely convenience, when they are able to sell 24's, no doubt that will be manna to some people. But there is no real money in beer sales for a grocery chain, there were no more labour hours given to deal with the beer section, so it is at best an afterthought in most places or worst a begrudging problem for others.

  Corner store sales will be something else entirely, dealing with a different clientele seeking sudsy sustenance, and if we think the 20% craft beer shelf space is gonna mean better distribution for anyone but the larger breweries, I think you're dreaming. It's going to mean older shelf dates, perhaps not even any fridge space at all in places where the only concern will be checking ID's and moving along to the next customer. 7-11 doesn't give a damn about freshness and rotation in beer, they wanna sell 6 packs and Doritios. I may be cynical, but I was there for the start of beer sales in grocery stores and can tell you from experience that with very few exceptions, it isn't something franchisees want to deal with, it's often more trouble than it's worth.

  But more than the problems of freshness and accessibility, the vast majority of beer drinkers have no desire to make multiple trips to different places to get their beer and return their empties. I did a couple of polls on my social media last week about what people do with their cans and bottles and about 45% of people returned them for the deposit cash back with another 35% just tossing them into the recycling bins. I should say that the people who responded are most likely drinking craft beer more than macros, not a 24 buying crowd according to another poll I ran a few weeks ago showing few people who follow along with me are getting two dozen of any single beer very often or stopping at the Beer Store for anything but returns. I know there are machines out there that take empty bottles, kind of like coin sorters for boozehounds, but if you think most beer drinkers are going to stand there and feed bottle after bottle into a damn machine instead of just dropping the case on the rollers and probably saying hi to someone who's been serving them for years, well then I believe that may be delusional. Part of the concept of The Beer Store has become focused on their high level of recovering recyclable materials and that isn't something anyone wants to really take on. It is a dirty, thankless task and let's face it, most people aren't cleaning out the bottles and cans they return, a lot of nasty stuff spills out and has to be dealt with by the folks behind the counters.

This is a man who loves the Mountains Blue...

  The diversity of selection at most Beer Stores is often cited as one major issue. The antiquated keeping of the beer in the back room that only the staff can get you or the overwhelming macro selections on the roller shelves out front is another. But if craft beer made business sense (or had the pull at the corporate level of The Beer Store) to occupy the same spaces that are taken up now by Bud, Coors Light and Canadian, they would be there. The people who are buying the majority of beer speak with their dollars and until we can get craft beer to a better place in terms of overall sales, change isn't going to come quickly. 

We have seen a lot of positive developments in my almost decade of watching and discussing beer, bottle shops have sprung up and by all accounts seem to be servicing a real need in our little community, albeit with a little sticker shock tossed in for good measure.  The profile of local breweries has certainly been raised and I know more and more people who include craft beers in their purchases, sprinkled in with their regular beers. We who are immersed would be well served to step back every once and a while to see what the bigger picture is, The Beer Store serves a larger purpose than we like to acknowledge and despite more changes coming, they aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Good union jobs, not as many as there were before, are hard to come by in beer, I don't know of many craft breweries that are unionized or even pay a fair wage. The industry will continue to go through difficult times in the next few years and despite all the optimism I see on social media, the truth is not a pretty picture on Instagram. 

  I don't know what the future looks like for The Beer Store. They will most likely reduce their footprint, selling off properties that make no sense and streamlining operations to remain viable. It will mean the loss of better paying jobs, something a lot of craft beer drinkers do not want to talk about when it comes to industry issues, and no doubt a higher amount of people who just give up returning empties because it isn't convenient.  The vast majority of beer drinkers do what they do because it is easy, they don't want to deal with anything but the simplest solution and until someone comes up with a better model, The Beer Store will continue to do what it does for the foreseeable future.

Polk

February 5th, 2024