B.C.’s liquor laws are deterring U.S. restaurant and grocery chains from expanding north, leasing agents say.
“It’s very hard to get any restaurant chains, except the ones that have a low beverage component to their sales, interested in B.C.,” said Stephen Knight, a principal at Sitings Realty Ltd.
Sitings represents dozens of retail and hospitality chains.
“The volumes of the major restaurants have fallen off 20% and that’s mostly the booze business,” Knight said.
“Restaurants have an 85% margin on the booze business and a 50% margin on the food business. What’s happening is not only that they’ve lost sales volume, but they’ve lost the most profitable part of their business. So, there’s a lot of struggling restaurants in Vancouver.”
The opposite is happening in Alberta, which has no sales tax. Alberta also does not prohibit driving with a blood alcohol level above 0.05.
Knight said U.S. grocers are also more attracted to Alberta than B.C. because it is easier for a grocery chain to own a liquor store and locate that store next door to the grocery chain in Alberta.
Loblaw Co. Ltd. and Canada Safeway Ltd. both own liquor stores next to their grocery stores in Alberta.
When former Everything Wine owner Paul Clinton approached officials at the Jim Pattison Group about leasing spaces next to Alberta Overwaitea stores, Pattison was so impressed with Everything Wine that he bought the company for an undisclosed amount in August. (See “Pattison buys into booze business” – issue 1138; August 16-22.)
Glen Korstrom
@GlenKorstrom