Grocery store owner Darcey Houser says he’s worried that a government plan to auction off the right to apply for an in-store wine licence will create an unfair advantage to the bigger chain stores and leave independent supermarkets out of the liquor sales sweepstakes.
Under it’s far-reaching liquor policy changes, the province is proposing to to put into play a limited number of VQA licences, which will allow grocery stores, like Houser’s East Vancouver Super Valu, to sell made-in-B.C. wine.
Save-on-Foods in south Surrey last week became the first grocery store in B.C. to adopt this new model. That licence, however, was a third-party partnership with the B.C. Wine Institute, which possesses only one more “dormant” VQA licence for use in a similar partnership.
Houser, who has run the Super Valu on 1st Avenue and Commercial Drive with his business partner for close to 20 years, would also like to offer his customers B.C. wine.
CASSIDY OLIVIER AND IAN AUSTIN, THE PROVINCE APRIL 7, 2015
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