Canada
 

I was in Windsor, Ontario last weekend and I was looking for a liquor store. I asked a guy where I could find a liquor store and he laughed at me. He said, "are you looking for a corner store like in the US?" and I said, "yes". He said "well there is only one place you can buy liquor and it was probably a good 12 blocks away." My question is: Is it like this all over Canada?

I guess I should have bought the legal limit allowed to take over the border before I left Michigan. Oh well, I guess I'm just spoiled. I have a drive through liquor store less than a mile away from my house. It's great not having to get out of your car.

In BC we have liquor stores and beer & wine stores. The liquor stores are regulated by the BC gov't and aren't open on sundays. As far as I know you can't pick up alcohol at your local corner store. Not sure about the other provs.

Ontario is brutal for that. No doubt about it. Quebec is more like the states. You can get booze anywhere there. Here, you can't even get beer in larger quantities than a 6 pack at our liquor stores. you have to go to, yes, you guessed it 'the beer store' to get beer. Pain in the A$$.

AOX81, in Canada, it is done by province (i.e. "state" regulated)...
Just to further clarify, at the B.C. Liquor Store, you can buy everything: beer, wine, hard stuff (vodka, rum or gin), coolers, etc. There are also some beer and wine stores that only sell the "soft stuff', like Beer, Wine, Coolers, Cider, etc. (No vodka, rum or gin). But no convenience stores with boozey bevvies....

In Ontario (where gphi2k2 lives), the gov't store is called LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) sells the booze.

In Quebec, you can buy beer and wine at the "depanneur" (the convenience store), but again, no "hard stuff"....you have to go to the Gov't Store for that.

Alberta and Manitoba
 

Following up with Alberta and Manitoba ...

In Alberta, the provincial government de-regulated their liquor/beer stores about 5 years ago. There are now individually owned liquor/beer stores, but grocery stores and drug stores can't sell alcoholic beverages. (They can if the liquor is in a completely separate building)

Sales can be 24/7 - and FYI - drikning age is 18 there...

In Manitoba, the government owns the liquor stores that sell both liquor/beer. There are wine stores as well, but few of those.

They started Sunday opening last summer, and it went so well, it's now year round. It was one of the last to do so in Canada. Drinking age is 18 here as well.

When I went up to London, the beer store there was more like a warehouse, they had displays of empty bottles and cans of beer and you told the worker who had someone roll it out on a roller line. Quite interesting, the lcbo was just like a regular liquor store in the states but talk about crowded:eek:

I know this thread is old...but i was born and raised in windsor, so i know all the liquor and beer stores, well alomost....

I can't think of where you were to be 12 blocks from a store....maybe the east end somewhere?

any way, for all you Americans who journey across..

there's a beer store one or two blocks east of the tunnel. there's a LCBO(liquor) about four blocks west on University from the tunnel.

coming off the bridge, go straight 3 lights, liquor on the left (next to wendy's) keep going straight a couple more blocks - beer store on left...

anyway, those are the ones i imagine an American using, so i won't rack my brain trying to think of the others...i know there's another liquor and beer store each on Tecumseh in the east....

Used to be that you had to go to a state run liquor store in OHIO to get hard liquor.

Don't know if it's still that way or not.

It was a pain.

DeltAlum

Its still that way in Ohio. and it stinks because the state run liquor stores keep bankers hours.

I don't have a problem with the LCBO or Beer store. The only problem I have is that if you're in a small town (i.e Guelph) there aren't any LCBOs or Beer store within walking distance. The closest one to my house in Guelph is about a half hour walk for me. It would be nice if I could run across the street to the store and just pick something up . But trust me, no matter where you are in ontario you will be able to find an LCBO or a Beer store...especially in the small towns...I mean what else is there to do?

In Nova Scotia, getting booze is run by the government.

You have to go to a Nova Scotia Liquor Commission store to get booze....anything and everything. They are the ONLY store allowed to sell alcohol in the province (with the exception of the breweries....which have beer stores attached to them...but they only sell the beer they brew onsite)

Luckily, there are MANY liquor stores in the Halifax Metro area (hee hee....us alcoholic Maritimers!:D) so you don't have to drive too far to find one!:) They aren't open on Sundays though (the malls aren't either BTW)

I remember when I was in Quebec City for Spring Break one year (skiing!:D) all the liquor stores closed at 5pm!!!! We had to resort to cheap wine from the gas station!!!! Arrrgh!

chillin' like Manitoba's Climate

In Toronto for the Sigma Nu Grand Chapter there was no problem at all locating beer/liquor. From the Royal Fairmont we just went across the street and down the stairs to the liquor store in the train station. Could have sworn they had both beer and liquor (could be wrong). We had a nice room party though. Excellent club scene down there as well.. Somehow a couple guys from my chapter ended up partying with Maxim girls.. Nice place ya'll have!

A city of that size and I had no problem walking the streets in the early morning. I'd need a sidearm if I wanted to do that in a similar size city here in the US.

It's all relative. I was born and raised in the Tdot and I wouldn't walk the streets at night by myself...it's not safe. But I go to school in Guelph, a small town and I feel completely safe, but I have people freaking out me when they find out that I walk the streets here by myself at night.

P.S It's so true...you'll never have a problem finding a liquor store in Toronto...and they do sell some kinds of beer

edited for spelling

Ahhh... the Brunny :D So I guess your boys were the somewhat sloppy ones :) I loved the look on their faces when some of the girls in the bar took their tops off (completely legal here in TO).