REGINA – Saskatchewan is gradually reducing its network of rural liquor stores.
As managers of small, low-volume liquor stores retire, move or quit, their stores will be closed, said Gordon Nystuen, president of the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority.
In communities that lose their stores, liquor will be sold out of other businesses that obtain a liquor franchise, he said.
Saskatchewan now has 81 liquor stores and 194 franchise outlets. Liquor stores, which are stand-alone operations, tend to be in large communities, while franchises, which are attached to other businesses, serve smaller communities, Nystuen said. Since September, 1993, three liquor stores have been closed and replaced by privately run franchises.
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Broadview closed
The most recent is in the southeastern town of Broadview where the liquor store will be closed soon, Nystuen said. It will be replaced by a local franchisee.
The liquor authority wants to close some of the small stores because “those are expensive places.” Their operating costs often swallow 20 to 30 percent of the liquor sales revenues. If a store is closed and liquor service supplied by a franchisee instead, the government saves money, Nystuen said.
Franchisees are given 10 percent of sales as their commission, which is considerably less than the government has been paying to run the small outlets.
Part of the overhead
Franchisees can sell liquor with a lower overhead, Nystuen said, because the liquor sales are included as part of a larger operation, such as a drug store or hotel.
Nystuen said the liquor authority has no plans to sell off larger, high-volume liquor stores.
The Saskatchewan Government Employees Union has accused the Saskatchewan government of trying to secretly privatize the provincial liquor system, and in rural areas create a situation like Alberta’s, where liquor sale is entirely private.
But Nystuen said the province is maintaining its monopoly on liquor purchasing and distribution, and denied the charge of privatization saying the liquor authority is closing some stores and converting liquor service in those communities to franchise operations.
