When the first B.C. cannabis store opened its doors on Oct. 17, weed was already selling out on its website.
But if you want to enjoy a beer from B.C. Liquor Stores with your bud, you can’t take it to the checkout unless you visit one of the province’s nearly 200 retail liquor locations.
The B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch told Global News it “was exploring online liquor sales when the NDP asked us to be the wholesaler and public retailer for cannabis,” said the BCLDB’s Viviana Zanocco in an email.
“When they tagged us with the latter, they directed us to be the only retailer of cannabis online. So it seemed logical to turn our search for an eCommerce platform to suit cannabis first, and then add liquor.”
One of the biggest challenges facing the provincial government is the potential cost of shipping. Attorney General David Eby, who is responsible for the BCLDB, said the weight of liquor is far greater than cannabis.
“There are a number of questions that need to be answered around packaging and the sheer weight of beer and whether it is economically viable,” said Eby. “But is certainly something that is possible.”
Eby called the distribution of cannabis ‘an active experiment’ but mentioned that the industry does not see home delivery as a top priority.
Ontario was the first province to sell booze online with home and local store deliveries. Quebec, Nova Scotia and Manitoba have since followed and B.C. could be next once the legal cannabis rollout is complete.
The retail arm of B.C. Liquor Stores would take on provincial online sales and the government website would compete with private bricks and mortar liquor stores, which have been allowed to conduct online sales in B.C. since October 2016.
“There are over 400 items in our store that you can’t get in any other store and we want to be able to service the entire province,” Darryl Lamb of legacy Liquor Store told Global News.
WATCH: Coverage of cannabis in B.C. on Globalnews.ca
Legacy Liquor Store estimates growing online sales make up close to five per cent of its business, with e-customers demanding rare specialty items. Becherovka, a Czech herbal liquor, is number one in online sales.
Lamb doesn’t believe the potential for government online liquor sales would impact Legacy Liquor Store’s niche.
“When you do online delivery, you’re looking for a specialty item. More often than not, you won’t find those at those big box chain stores.”
Booze buyers tell Global News they are split on whether they’d toast B.C. Liquor Stores online.
“I tend to be more of a ‘go check it out, hold it in my hand, and then buy it’ as opposed to an online guy,” one shopper said.
“I think it’s pretty competitive, so I would rather buy from the private stores than the government,” added another.
There is no timeline for when B.C. Liquor Stores online sales would launch.
The B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch is still adding cannabis to its line of business and is in the process of moving its distribution centre to Richmond from Vancouver, and moving its head office to Burnaby. Once those initiatives are done, Zanocco said it will “have the resources to look at online sales of liquor.”
WATCH: A look inside B.C.’s first legal pot shop in Kamloops