Supermarket private label booze gets frosty reception from Ontario’s smaller alcohol makers
In a letter sent to Premier Doug Ford in July, and signed by Beer Canada, Spirits Canada, Wine Growers Ontario, Ontario Craft Wineries, the Ontario Craft Cider Association, the Ontario Convenience Store Association and the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, asked the premier to put an end to the idea of letting grocers sell private label booze in their stores.
According to the CBC report, the groups say such a move would hurt their operations as they could not compete with the scale and the buying power large grocery chains have, and fear that valuable shelf space in grocery stores would be given over to the grocer’s own products.
Gary Sands, a senior vice-president with the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, is quoted in the CBC report that smaller grocers would have a tough time trying to develop their own store brands and feared they would not be able to compete on price. said it would be "impossible" for small grocers to pivot and develop their own store-brand products.
The Retail Council of Canada, which represents large supermarket and big-box chains retailers told CBC News in an email in June: "Private label increases competition, lowering prices for customers, because brewers and vineyards need to indirectly compete with the lower retail prices of private label brands."
All this comes in the wake of the Ford government’s announcement that it would expand the province’s alcohol market, allowing beer, wine and coolers to be sold in grocery and convenience stores.
