For now, it is only an empty shell, an old beer store in London, ontarium, stripped of the beams and the walls of ash blocks, but soon, the space will become a bustling coffee, dining room and catering center for one of the most demanded restaurants in Canada.
CINTO, recently appointed among the 100 best restaurants in the country, has become so popular that it is almost impossible to obtain a table.
“We currently do not have a single reservation available for the next 60 days,” said co -owner Shauna Versloot. “Every night has a waiting list between 20 and 50, sometimes 100 people.”
The always changing Asian fusion creations of chef Joe Tran have turned the intimate restaurant of 28 seats into one of the most popular tickets in the city, with a demand far exceeding the offer. To continue the rhythm, the team is moving to Kitty-Corner to an empty beer shop, where the new restaurant in Loto and Lima and the Lanoa Restaurant contiguous will accommodate up to 120 diners.
“We are delighted. We are more than excited, to say the least,” Versloot said.
Beer stores find new tenants. The gaps do not
A few blocks away, another old beer store has become a pet store. It is one of the 86 points of sale of Ontario that have been closed due to the alcohol expansion plan of Prime Minister Doug Ford, but they have quickly found a new life
However, the recycling system that once helped define the beer store, driving about 1.6 billion empty alcohol containers returned every year, is demonstrating to be much more difficult to replace.
Responsibility has landed with restlessness in groceries. Of the 70s already required to accept the yields as of May, only 14 are doing it, and many operators openly threaten to deliver their licenses instead of assuming the sticky and expensive task.
“The dirty gaps, whether cans or bottles, simply do not belong to a grocery store, full stop,” said Gordon Dean, owner of five independent supermarkets, four in Ontario, where neither the beer nor the LCBO operates, and one in Quebec.
The Dean Ontario stores are four of the 14 supermarkets that currently meet the demands of the province. This January 1, more than 1,000 edible stores licensed to sell beer and wine must recover bottles and cans.
The gaps are dirty, attract shade and do not take place in an installation that bakes fresh bread or prepares meals to eat, said Dean. Yellowjacket insects and fruit flies have already forced it to increase their pest control costs.
Ontario faces an open revolt of supermarkets
“We have dedicated 10 percent of our footprint in the store to this and at the end of the day, it is actually costing us money,” he said. “Are we really going to continue that investment?”
It is a question that many supermarkets are doing, and the province can be facing an open revolt.
Both the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers (CFIG), which represents 59 percent of the approximately 6,000 ontarium groceries, such as the Canadian Retail Council, which represents larger chains such as Metro, Sebeys, Loblaw, Costco and Walmart, have indicated that many operators would rather deliver their licenses to take the work of the beer store.
“It’s a dog’s breakfast. Really, I don’t know what another way of saying it,” Gary Sands’s Vice President of Government Relations, of the CFIG, told CBC News.
Sands said that the impulse of the province to give more comfort to consumers by allowing edible stores to sell beer and wine arrives as the locations of beer stores continue to close. By the end of the year, approximately 86 points of sale will have closed, and some supermarkets are already pointing out that they will eliminate the alcohol from their shelves instead of handling the gaps.
“It’s just a fact. It is not a hyperbolic statement. This will happen. Therefore, it will have fewer options and less convenience.”
Sebastian Prins, director of government relations of the Canadian Retail Council, said that many of his groceries are also considering leaving his alcohol sales license.
‘We have a recycling problem’
“Ultimately, it will be a decision of the store per store,” he said, with groceries that weigh the costs, complexity and competitive equity before advancing.
Prins said that the problem can continue to be discussed and that the province addresses some of the challenges before 2026, warning that the recycling system could face serious problems.
“We have a recycling problem without any margins or business case to support it,” he said.
Scott Blodgett, senior advisor to relations with the media of the Ontario Finance Ministry, told CBC News by email that it is only required that only grocery stores with more than 4,000 square feet of commercial space, and that there are more than five kilometers of a beer store, so far they are required to join the ontarium deposit program (ODRP) since November 2024.
“From 2026, all groceries must participate in the ODRP,” he wrote, noting that supermarkets with less than 4,000 square feet of space will be exempt.
The beer store will continue to manage the ODRP until its current contract with the province expires in 2031, he said.
