Alcohol & Volume

As a retailer or retail employee who is soon to be certified to sell alcohol to customers, you can help ensure your workplace complies with the rules by knowing the shelf space requirements for alcohol sold in licensed retail stores, and by knowing what types of products your workplace can sell.

Volume

Retailers in Ontario are prohibited from keeping for sale, offering for sale or selling alcohol in containers exceeding 5 litres in volume. However, this restriction does not apply to multiple individually packaged containers sold together. For example, while a retailer cannot sell a single 6 litre box of wine, they are permitted to sell a 24-pack of beer despite the total volume of beer across all 24 bottles exceeding 5 litres.

Shelf space

To support small producers in Ontario, convenience and grocery stores are required to ensure that:

At least 20% of the containers of beer on display are containers of beer produced by small breweries
At least 20% of the containers of cider on display are containers of cider produced by small cideries
At least 20 % of the containers of ready-to-drink beverages on display are containers of beverages produced by small breweries, small distilleries or small cideries
At least 10% of the containers of wine on display are containers of wine produced by small wineries
At least 40% of the containers of wine on display are containers of wine that is produced using grapes from a single country and in respect of which at least one of the following criteria is satisfied:
- The wine is quality assurance wine
- The wine was produced by a small winery
- The country where the grapes were grown produces, in the aggregate, less than 150 million litres of wine annually from grapes grown in that country

Wine Boutique

Wine boutiques are required to allocate at least 5% of the boutique’s shelf space to small-scale wine producers.

Further, there is the added requirement that at least 50% of the alcohol area shelf space must display VQA wines, at least half of which must be manufactured by wineries other than the licence holder (so 25% of total shelf space).

Practice Quiz: Test Your Knowledge

1. Are retailers required to carry a minimum amount of cider produced by small producers?

Yes, 40% of the shelf space for cider must be made by small producers.
Yes, 20% of the shelf space for cider must be made by small producers.
Yes, 10% of the shelf space for cider must be made by small producers, with at least 40% of the shelf space being made by either; small producers; countries with less than 150 million litres of production; or a product that is quality assured.
No, this is a legacy requirement removed when Ontario expanded retail sales.

2. Are grocery and convenience retailers required to carry a minimum amount of wine produced by small producers?

Yes, 40% of the shelf space for wine must be made by small producers.
Yes, 20% of the shelf space for wine must be made by small producers.
Yes, 10% of the shelf space for wine must be made by small producers, with at least 40% of the shelf space being made by either; small producers; countries with less than 150 million litres of production; or a product that is quality assured.
No, this is a legacy requirement removed when Ontario expanded retail sales.

Lesson 5: Volume & Shelf Space

Alcohol & Volume

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