Liquor consumers on the south side of the river are still waiting for further word on what the future holds for the Battleford liquor store.
The Battleford liquor store on 22nd Street in Battleford was slated to be one of 40 publicly-owned liquor stores to be converted to private liquor stores in the province. Another 12 would be created around the province through the same RFP process.
Last fall, the provincial government indicated the stores would be subject to an RFP process, with the process not taking place until after the election.
The Saskatchewan Party was re-elected in the April 4 election, a campaign in which Premier Brad Wall repeated the government’s previous pledge to privatize liquor stores.
“I think we’re going to see more choice when it’s done,” Wall said during a campaign stop in North Battleford on March 21.
“There will not be less money for government as a result of this. Government as the wholesaler is going to make sure of that, point number one. Point number two, government won’t have the overhead of all of the different stores that may or may not be performing as well as others. And yet consumers will still have the choice, I think that will be reflected in price by the way, and as I mentioned employees of existing stores can be owners now.”
The newly-elected legislature is set to open with a speech from the throne Tuesday. The expectation was that the government would reaffirm their previous commitments and perhaps provide further details on a timeline for the RFP process to happen.
There have been increasing rumours about potential bidders for a private store. One rumour that has made the rounds is that Discovery Co-op might submit a bid to locate the private liquor store at their gas bar/convenience store location in Battleford. But at this point this is all speculation.
To this point Discovery Co-op has not made any firm commitment to submit a bid. Still, there is interest in the idea.
At their annual meeting May 4, outgoing Discovery Co-op board president Randy Graham confirmed in the question and answer session that the potential liquor store opportunity in Battleford had come up at the board level.
However, he made it clear it was still early days yet, with a lot of details still to be known about what the process would be.
