After months of waiting for both staff members and customers, the new liquor stores for the Southern Plains Co-op in Estevan and Oxbow are now open.
Both stores started serving customers for the first time on Friday morning. The Estevan liquor store is located in an area inside the grocery store on Fourth Street. Renovations were needed to accommodate the outlet.
Meanwhile, the Oxbow liquor store is part of the co-op’s convenience store at the east edge of the town. The store was expanded as part of the project.
“We are very, very excited,” said Carol McKay, who is the co-op’s manager of human resources.
The Estevan location is about 2,100 square feet. It has a walk-in cooler with refrigerated beer and coolers, offering lots of selection.
“People can walk in, into the cooler, and pick their brand and kind of beverage, and come out,” said McKay.
Also in the Estevan location is a growler bar that will have Saskatchewan beer on tap for customers to fill their growlers, which are 64-ounce beer containers, or howlers, which are 32 ounces. The co-op employees who work in the liquor store are trained to fill the growlers.
The Oxbow location, meanwhile, fills about 1,500 square feet. All of the beer and coolers are in a refrigerated area, so that customers will purchase cold products.
“It has more variety than what was in … the Oxbow area,” said McKay.
The public should be very pleased with the look and the style of the Oxbow store.
Both locations will have plenty of Saskatchewan brands, and even some of the co-op branded alcohol such as beer and wine. Co-op spirits will be coming as well.
McKay noted there is a lot of variety for the Saskatchewan products.
“I was very surprised, when we were stalking the shelves, at just how many different things that are coming in,” she said.
The wine area has a variety of different labels and countries represented.
Getting the liquor stores open has taken some time. They have had a lot of work come up during the process, which proved to be a good learning experience. The co-op has six new employees in each location, and a new manager working with the product.
“We had to get our facilities updated, because we have to have locked locations for the … liquor product, we have to have locked storage in our warehouses,” she said. “So there have been some major things that had to happen in order to get our licence.”
The Estevan store underwent renovations, as they took an area that was used for groceries and offices. The offices were relocated, and some other adjustments were made to the grocery store, to create a closed-in location for the store.
As for the Oxbow store, they had to add new walls, which McKay said was likely more extensive.
The co-op received the final stamp of approval from the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority last Wednesday.
“The last two weeks have been draining for the crew involved, but we are ready. The shelves are stocked and the coolers are up.”
Customers have been “constantly” asking the co-op’s staff about when the new stores would be ready. Now that the stores are open, the shoppers have been excited.
The co-op will offer patronage dividends for the alcohol products.
With the new liquor stores, the co-op is expanding the services they offer the communities, adding new staff and investing in the communities they serve.
For a video tour of the new Estevan liquor store, please visit www.estevanmercury.ca.
