Ontario Costco locations get licence to sell beer, wine

Ontario big box stores can start selling alcohol Premier Doug Ford and his Finance Minister visited a local Costco on Thursday to promote the expansion of alcohol sales in big box stores.

Costco locations in Ontario will join hundreds of other grocery and big-box stores that can start selling wine and beer as soon as this Thursday.

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) confirmed to CTV News Toronto in an email that as of Oct. 29, at least 412 new grocery store licences had been issued – on top of the 450 existing stores that were already selling alcohol under a previous agreement.

According to the AGCO’s publicly-available data, at least 41 of those stores include all of the Costco locations in Ontario, meaning the American wholesaler can start selling beer, cider, wine, and ready-to-drink cocktails starting Oct. 31.

Thursday’s milestone marks the last stage of Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s alcohol sales expansion plan, which has allowed licensed convenience stores to sell booze since Sept. 5. Before that, on Aug. 1, previously licensed grocery stores were given the green light to sell ready-to-drink beverages and large-pack sizes of beer, including 30-packs.

While it’s unclear if Costco will start selling alcohol as soon as it's able to, the AGCO notes that there are restrictions for single containers, meaning the wholesaler won't be able to offer anything more than any other convenience, grocery or big-box store.

For example, the AGCO’s licence obligation guide notes that a single container of beer, wine or ready-to-drink beverage must not be bigger than 5 litres. As well, Costco, like all licensed stores, cannot sell any product that exceeds 18 per cent alcohol.

The AGCO’s data also shows that nearly 4,750 convenience stores have signed on to sell booze since sales opened up in September.