Islanders support beer, wine sales in convenience stores, survey says

A new survey by the Atlantic Convenience Stores Association shows about two thirds of Islanders support wine and beer sales in P.E.I. convenience and grocery stores. 

The group paid for the survey by MQO Research in June 2017.

"They didn't surprise us," said president Mike Hammoud of the results. "We live in a world today where consumers expect convenience."

Liquor is already sold at half-a-dozen private agency stores as well as at farmer's markets on P.E.I., Hammoud points out.

The association is not asking for more full liquor stores, he said, but instead popular brands of beer and wine in convenience sizes, such as singles and six-packs.

"We see that as kind of a lost opportunity right now, if the product is not available," for last-minute or impulse sales, he said. 

Won't affect government sales, ACSA says

The association believes liquor sales would simply increase, and that the move would not affect the P.E.I. Liquor Control Commission's bottom line. Hammoud points to Newfoundland, where most of the beer sold is purchased at convenience stores, while provincial liquor corporation sales continue to grow. 

The association hopes to meet with P.E.I. government officials in the next couple of months to lobby for convenience store liquor sales. Hammoud is encouraged by Finance Minister Heath MacDonald's public statement that he is serious about overhauling P.E.I.'s "outdated" Liquor Control Act. 

"We think the timing is right," Hammoud said. "Two thirds is a pretty significant number."

The survey questioned 392 Islanders last June. Five per cent of those asked neither support or oppose, or are undecided. The results are accurate within plus or minus five per cent, 19 times of out 20.

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