Today is the first day for BC Liquor Stores to lift restrictions, making way for longer hours, including Sundays, plus the choice to sell chilled beer and wine.
An immediate change, which isn’t April Fool’s fodder, is that prices of beer, wine and spirits are marked at a lower price on the shelves.
It isn’t cheaper liquor, however, because the new pricing doesn’t include taxes. Those charges will now be added at the point-of-sale along with the recycle fee – so products will cost about the same as before April 1.
Trail is listed as one of 169 provincial stores with longer hours, now open from 9:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, Friday and Saturday 9:30 a.m. until 9 p.m. and Sundays, from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m.
Also effective today, grocery stores will be allowed to sell liquor through the store-within-a-store model; and grocers will be able to stock B.C. wines on their shelves.
The latest changes follow B.C.’s liquor board review completed last fall, that the province states will level the playing field for all liquor retailers.
The expectation is, that by increasing competition, the market can be more responsive to the needs of consumers, according to a Ministry of Justice news release.
Notably, the shelf price that consumers pay when purchasing liquor at private stores has never been set by government, and this will continue to be in case.