If you’re a fan of wine and spirits, you’ll probably welcome some lower prices at Yellowknife’s liquor stores.
Earlier this week, the NWT Liquor Commission assumed responsibility of setting prices at both stores. Previously, prices were set by private owners.
“The two stores are changing from a private model, where the store owner owned all the inventory and set their own prices, to a consignment model, where the liquor inventory is owned by the NWT Liquor Commission and the operator is paid a commission on sales,” said Peter Maher, director of liquor operations with the NWT Liquor Commission.
Maher says price drops will be most noticeable with wine and spirits. If you’re a beer drinker, though, you might not be so fortunate.
“Some of the spirits will be 10% or even 15% [lower] while wine will be down around 5%,” he said.
But prices for “beer, coolers and ciders are going to stay relatively close, or there might even be a small increase with some products depending on volume.
“The system that we use is a volume system so beer naturally has more volume and sometimes it takes a little bit more of the cost.”
With the change, Maher says every liquor store in the territory now falls under the same model. He told Moose FM the commission could revisit prices following the territorial election.
“We’re probably going to do a complete pricing review in the Northwest Territories and see if we want to make any changes or leave things the same.
“Though part of that will depend on the next government.”
