The Beer Store

Brewers Retail Inc.

The Beer Store logo
Trading name	The Beer Store
Type	Joint venture
Industry	Beer distribution Beer retail sales
Founded	1927
Headquarters	Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Number of locations	448 retail stores (2014)
Area served	Ontario
Key people	Ted Moroz (President)
Services	Distribution and sale of beer
Number of employees	7356 (2010)
Parent	Labatt Brewing Company - 49% Molson Coors Brewing Company - 49% Sleeman Breweries - 2%
Website	thebeerstore.ca

The Beer Store is the trading name for Brewers Retail, a privately owned chain of retail outlets selling beer and other malt beverages in the province of Ontario, Canada, founded in 1927. Owned at its inception by a consortium of Ontario-based brewers, subsequent national and international consolidation has resulted in control now being shared by three multinational brewing companies, two foreign owned and one which is 50% controlled by non-Canadian interests.

Under Ontario's Liquor Control Act, The Beer Store was formerly the only retailer permitted to sell beer for off-site consumption, besides stores on the site of a brewery, locations of the provincial government-owned Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), and LCBO-authorized agency stores in certain smaller communities. The act and the company's articles of incorporation further stipulate that Brewers Retail cannot sell "hard liquor" (spirits), or consumer goods (like groceries).

The Beer Store's duopoly with the LCBO on 6-pack beers ended on December 15, 2015, with the legalization of 6-pack beer sales at selected supermarkets in urban centres due to concerns over the retailer's monopoly position. The Beer Store still holds a legal monopoly in Ontario for selling larger cases, like 12-packs & 24-packs. A 2013 Angus Reid survey commissioned by the Ontario Convenience Stores Association found that 13% of Ontario residents were aware that "The Beer Store monopoly is not a government-owned enterprise".

Forty-nine percent of the company is owned by the Labatt arm of Anheuser-Busch InBev of Belgium; forty-nine percent is owned by Molson Coors Brewing Company which has headquarters in both the United States and Canada, and is jointly controlled by the namesake families; and the remaining two percent is owned by Sleeman Breweries, an arm of Sapporo Brewery of Japan.

It is regulated by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), an agency of the Government of Ontario. As of December 2014, the company operates 448 retail stores which sell beer to the general public. Owing to its legal monopoly The Beer Store (TBS) is the largest distributor of domestic beer to Ontario bars and restaurants, over 16,000 of which are licensed to sell alcohol. The LCBO sells imported beer to bars and restaurants. Many imported beers are available at The Beer Store, but they are imported by the LCBO and then sold to TBS.