The impact on consumption of selling wine in grocery stores

This paper examines the effect of introducing wine into grocery stores in Quebec. Beer has been available in Quebec grocery stores for many years but limited wine sales were introduced in 1978. Data on wine sales and total sales of alcoholic beverages were examined for Quebec and Ontario for the years 1967-1983. Neither beer nor wine are sold in the grocery stores of Ontario and it represented a control province. The analyses show that there was no impact on wine sales or total alcohol sales from the introduction of wine into grocery stores. In fact, alcohol consumption fell a little more in Quebec than in Ontario. The reasons for the lack of impact could include depressed economic circumstances, the relative unpopularity of wine compared to other beverages and the long-term trend toward lower alcohol consumption throughout Canada.