Beer Store announces 10 additional locations set to close this summer

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The Beer Store has announced a 10-pack of additional locations will shut down in Ontario this summer, bringing to 35 the total number of store closures expected over the coming weeks.
“We made the difficult decision to close these retail locations. We will continue our focus on what we do best: Ice-cold beer, great customer service and a world-class recycling program that last year returned more containers than we sold,” said Ozzie Ahmed, vice-president of retail at The Beer Store.
“Modernizing operations in a changing marketplace is never easy. We know this will be difficult news for customers and employees.”
The latest closures will come into effect Aug. 10 and coincide with an expanded alcohol marketplace in Ontario.
In 2024, thousands of convenience and grocery stores were permitted to start selling booze, except for spirits, expanding Ontario’s alcohol market beyond The Beer Store and the LCBO — the two main stores where consumers previously could purchase booze.
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Following the province’s new alcohol sales initiative, The Beer Store announced the closure of nine locations across the province. In March, five more closures were announced. Then in May, The Beer Store said it would close 11 additional stores in Ontario, including two in Toronto.
The Beer Store employs 6,500 people in the province with full- and part-time jobs. The company has not said how many jobs will be lost with the closures.
Included in Monday’s announced closures were six GTA locations, as well as stores in Cambridge, Amherstview, Tottenham and Iroquois Falls.
The Beer Store encourages customers to continue returning the nearly 1.6 billion alcohol containers it processes annually to a local store or an empty return dealer, adding all grocery stores that sell alcohol will be required to return empties starting Jan. 1, 2026.
However, a Canadian Press report late last month said few Ontario grocery stores that are required to accept empty alcohol containers are doing so, leaving the future of the deposit return program in question.
About 70 grocery stores — ones that are more than 5 km away from a Beer Store — have been required to take empties since last fall. But only 13 are complying, according to the Ministry of Finance.
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