The Battlefords Chamber of Commerce is looking at having the liquor store moved out of downtown.
At their board meeting Tuesday, directors voted in favour of surveying their members on the whole issue of the downtown Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority store location.
That survey should go out soon to businesses, and would include questions on whether they were in favour of SLGA relocating outside of downtown, what areas of the city they would like to see it relocated to and whether they were interested in writing to the SLGA or government officials.
The overriding sentiment at the meeting was that the downtown SLGA location, at the corner of 11th Avenue and Railway Avenue, was causing more problems than it was worth.
Concern was expressed about the ongoing additions and alcohol issues seen in the downtown core. The liquor store was singled out for its share of blame for the situation.
“We’d like to see it moved,” said Chamber chair Terry Caldwell of the downtown location. “There’s no constructive reason for it being there.”
Caldwell cited the general attitude to downtown “has not been favourable” due to the issues there. As well, Caldwell acknowledged the opposition expressed to murals on the side of the liquor store building depicting First Nation images.
That mural has been subject to criticism by Indigenous leaders who see it as promoting stereotypes linking First Nation people with alcohol.
Also cited by Caldwell was the access and amount of alcohol available at that location, and especially access to cheap alcohol, a sentiment shared by other directors at the meeting.
“SLGA is the number one culprit for that,” said Caldwell.
Caldwell noted the grief caused for other businesses downtown, and added while SLGA is not the only issue there, “at least without them there we can identify where the rest of the problems are.”
The experience of other cities had been looked at, and it was noted those communities experienced significant upsides by moving their downtown liquor store locations.
Caldwell noted the closing of a downtown SLGA store on 20th Street in Saskatoon resulted in the “doubling the values of businesses there in months.”
Another example cited later at the meeting was the liquor store that was formerly located at the Sturdy Stone building in downtown Saskatoon. It was noted many issues there were resolved after the liquor store moved out.
On the flip side, Caldwell noted other cities had liquor stores in their commercial and industrial areas that have been successful, without the issues associated with loitering or access to alcohol.
It was acknowledged a downtown location for a liquor store made sense at one time. Chamber director Warren Berg noted at one point it was common to have the liquor store, the bank and other vendors in proximity as part of the “footprint of the community.”
But the liquor store was also the only place where liquor could be purchased in those days. That has changed now, with offsale.
“The needs of the liquor store have changed, the needs of the society have changed,” said Berg.
It was a frank discussion. Among the directors speaking was Tom Hawboldt of Light of Christ Schools, who wrote a letter to the editor published in the News-Optimist calling for the SLGA store to be moved out of downtown.
While reiterating support for a move, Hawboldt also cited the need to keep the existing liquor store building occupied. It is considered one of downtown’s anchor buildings and the need to line up a new occupant that could take it over right away was seen as paramount, to prevent another vacant building in the downtown core.
A number of ideas were floated as to what could go in the building, including office or retail space or perhaps as a cultural centre.
Recent changes in liquor retail in the Battlefords market were also cited at the meeting. It was noted the new Sobeys Liquor location in Battleford has drawn business away from the downtown store. Discovery Co-op has recently applied for a liquor licence for Territorial Place Mall and the thinking is it will also draw business away.
There were also concerns expressed that moving the liquor store out of downtown might not solve any addictions issues, and instead shift the problems to other areas of the city.
It was also emphasized by directors that they did not want SLGA out of the community, instead, they wanted to be helpful in suggesting alternatives.
