beer store logo trading name the beer store type joint venture industry beer distribution beer retail sales founded 1927 headquarters mississauga ontario canada number of locations 448 retail stores 2014 1 area served ontario key people ted moroz president services distribution and sale of beer number of employees 7356 2010 parent labatt brewing company 49 % molson coors brewing company 49 % sleeman breweries 2 % website thebeerstore.ca the beer store is the trading name for brewers retail a privately owned chain of retail outlets selling beer and other malt beverages in the province of ontario canada founded in 1927 . owned at its inception by a consortium of ontario based brewers subsequent national and international consolidation has resulted in control now being shared by three multinational brewing companies two foreign owned and one which is 50 % controlled by non canadian interests . nb 1 under ontario s liquor control act the beer store was formerly the only retailer permitted to sell beer for off site consumption besides stores on the site of a brewery locations of the provincial government owned liquor control board of ontario lcbo and lcbo authorized agency stores in certain smaller communities . 3 the act and the company s articles of incorporation further stipulate that brewers retail can not sell hard liquor spirits or consumer goods like groceries . the beer store s monopoly ended on december 15 2015 with the legalization of 6 pack beer sales at selected supermarkets in urban centres due to concerns over the retailer s near monopoly position . a 2013 angus reid survey commissioned by the ontario convenience stores association found that 13 % of ontario residents were aware that the beer store monopoly is not a government owned enterprise . 4 5 contents 1 company 2 history 3 the beer store today 3.1 estimated profits 3.2 green policies 3.3 corporate responsibility 3.4 returns for leukemia 4 criticism 4.1 brewer neutrality 4.2 consumer prices 4.3 political controversy 4.4 non competitive business practices 5 as map publisher 6 in popular culture 7 related companies 8 footnotes 9 references 10 external links company edit a beer store shop . forty nine percent of the company is owned by the labatt arm of anheuser busch inbev of belgium ; forty nine percent is owned by molson coors brewing company which has headquarters in both the united states and canada and is jointly controlled by the namesake families ; 2 and the remaining two percent is owned by sleeman breweries an arm of sapporo of japan . it is regulated by the alcohol and gaming commission of ontario agco an agency of the government of ontario . as of december 2014 the company operates 448 retail stores which sell beer to the general public . owing to its legal monopoly the beer store tbs is the largest distributor of domestic beer to ontario bars and restaurants over 16 000 of which are licensed to sell alcohol . citation needed the lcbo sells imported beer to bars and restaurants . many imported beers are available at the beer store but they are imported by the lcbo and then sold to tbs . tbs has a policy of accepting any brewer in the world to sell its product as long as the brewer meets the requirements set by the lcbo . 6 furthermore unlike many other retailers a brewer is given flexibility with regards to how many and which stores it would like to sell its product in . 6 currently workers are represented by the united food and commercial workers ufcw local 12r24 union . history edit the company began in 1927 with the end of prohibition in ontario . although prohibition had proven to be unsuccessful the provincial government still needed to placate angry temperance advocates and agreed that beer would be sold through a single network of stores . however the government did not want to operate this network itself as was done in some other canadian provinces and so permitted brewers to organize the brewers warehousing company ltd. which later became brewers retail the beer store . the beer store today edit the beer store truck estimated profits edit the beer store operates as a not for profit entity however a study in august 2013 by professor anindya sen of the university of waterloo stated that the near monopoly the beer store has in ontario allows it to capture as much as 700 million in incremental profits each year . 7 the study focused on beer prices for 24 bottle 341 ml cases of beer . the data on beer prices were collected from two major grocery stores in quebec and from the beer store in ontario . beer prices were similar between different grocery stores in quebec . however there were significant differences between average prices in quebec and ontario . for example the pre tax average price for 24 bottle packs of brands including molson canadian molson dry coors light budweiser and bud light were 25.95 in quebec and 35.56 at the beer store in ontario . 7 green policies edit since 1927 the beer store has refunded deposits on all empty beer containers purchased in ontario . in february 2007 the ontario deposit return program odrp was launched by the government of ontario . the odrp s goal is to ensure that 100 per cent of all packaging sold at the lcbo follows the same path of all packaging sold at the beer store to be reused or recycled . 8 all alcoholic beverage containers purchased in ontario are accepted for deposit return at any beer store location that returns empty containers . odrp continues to make a meaningful contribution to ontario s waste diversion objectives with the return rate increasing more than 16 percentage points since its first year of operation in 2007 . between the odrp and blue box an estimated 63 909 additional tonnes of glass is being diverted from ontario landfills . these materials continue to be directed toward higher end recycling supporting ontario s green economy and generating environmental benefits . this success means we have recycling factories making new products instead of higher piles of waste in landfills said jim bradley ontario minister of the environment in an april 2014 statement . 9 as a result of the odrp ontario is now the principal source of quality glass cullet for ontario glass manufacturing previously ontario glass manufacturers had to source glass cullet from other jurisdictions to support production . in 2013 2014 the beer store and odrp program combined avoided 196 332 tonnes of ghg emissions equivalent to taking over 41 333 cars and trucks off ontario roads . 10 combined these programs avoided over 2 694 461 gigajoules of energy equivalent to over 41 million of oil note 94.73 barrel and 6.1 gj barrel of oil . between 2013 2014 the beer store achieved a system wide recovery and re use rate of 99 per cent for the industry standard bottles which are reused 12 to 15 times . 9 the beer store has received praise from local and national organizations including the conservation council of ontario environmental defence canada the recycling council of ontario and toronto environmental alliance . 11 tbs recycling efforts translate into cost savings for municipal governments as municipalities need not spend tax revenue on recycling packaging that tbs sells . in 2008 tbs estimated that its return program has saved taxpayers 38 million in avoided waste management and recycling program costs per year . 12 in 2012 the tbs estimated that savings had increased to 40 million with 94 % of beer containers and 81 % of lcbo containers recycled . 13 the beer store also is actively engaged in reducing its carbon footprint by finding innovative ways to reduce its energy consumption a key input for any retail organization especially one with a need to constantly refrigerate its product . 12 a notable initiative is the use outside air to cool beer when outside temperatures provide for such a tactic . 12 pierre sadik senior policy adviser at the david suzuki foundation has stated ontarians should be proud of the beer store s environmental achievements . it s time businesses across the province follow the beer store s lead and turn their talk about waste diversion into real action . 11 corporate responsibility edit tbs maintains a strict policy of weid 25 and the right to refuse any customer who appears intoxicated or who is underage . furthermore tbs empowers its retail management to actively monitor and track every employee s refusal rate to ensure proper conformance to company policy . 12 in 2013 tbs challenged over 3.7 million sales of beer at its retail locations refusing service for 59 000 individuals . 14 returns for leukemia edit since 2006 the beer store ufcw local 12r24 the union representing its employees and the leukemia & lymphoma society of canada have partnered together to help raise awareness and funds for blood cancer research through the collection of empty bottles . 15 the bottle drive is formally called returns for leukemia but many refer to it as the leukemia bottle drive . it is held on the last saturday and sunday of may and is also the world s largest bottle drive . citation needed over the last 10 years through donations of cash and empties the event has raised over 10 million for the cause . criticism edit this section possibly contains original research . please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations . statements consisting only of original research should be removed . january 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message brewer neutrality edit the beer store employees are not allowed to recommend one brand over another . staff can tell customers about the products but can not encourage customers to choose a specific brand . this policy is known as brewer neutrality . the beer store is permitted to charge non shareholding breweries listing fees for each beer carried in stock that many critics perceive as substantial . 16 listing fees have been criticized as restricting competition in the huge ontario beer market especially from smaller brewers who often can not afford the fees especially for multiple brands . the beer store historically operated on a cost recovery basis . this kept listing fees at a minimum for smaller breweries . in fact tbs actively engages in a discounted program to help small brewers gain entry into its retail outlets . furthermore tbs provides reduced volume rates for brewers who produce under 75 000 hectoliters and steeper discounts for brewers who produce under 25 000 hectoliters . 12 the current brewers retail inc. bri user agreement 2010 that brewers are asked to sign includes a statement that is a departure from this cost recovery tradition . it states ... the cost to bri of providing a service shall include a reasonable margin of profit to bri . previous agreements read ... the cost to bri of providing a service shall include a reasonable margin of profit that was envisioned in the original memorandum of understanding mou . the removal of any reference to the mou is problematic for small craft brewers who must access consumers through their largest competitors . when one compares certain policies that the beer store has now implemented to agreements laid out in the canada united states memorandum of understanding on provincial beer marketing practices 17 it appears that some of the current policies violate the mou . one example is the universal listing policy . this policy assured brewers that they would be able to have at least one stock keeping unit sku of a listed brand in any store they desired in spite of sales volume so long as the required listing fee was paid . the current policy allows the beer store to delist any and all skus if