Boutique will focus on wine

May 9, 2008
Brandon Sun
Written by: Robson Fletcher

Manitoba Liquor Control Commission president Don Lussier (centre) speaks as Brandon Mayor Dave Burgess (left) and Premier Gary Doer listen during the announcement of a new liquor store to be built at the Corral Centre.

The Corral Centre will soon be home to Brandon’s third provincially run liquor store, Premier Gary Doer announced yesterday.

The new store will sell wine, beer and spirits, Doer said, and will include a “specialty wine component” to meet a growing demand for wine in the Wheat City.

The store, located near the centre of the Corral Centre shopping complex, will be roughly 6,300 sq. ft. in size and is expected to open in November. Its construction will cost about $700,000, according to Andrew Swan, the minister responsible for the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission.

MLCC president Don Lussier was also in Brandon to help make the announcement on Thursday morning. He said rapidly rising wine sales at Brandon’s two existing Liquor Marts prompted the decision to open a third store in the city with a particular focus on wine.

“There’s just a whole groundswell of interest in wine, and that got us thinking that we ought to do something a little more dramatic in wine in Brandon,” Lussier said.

Doer said the Corral Centre was selected as the location for the boutique because it is the biggest retail hub in the Westman region.

“We’re pleased to make this announcement knowing that about 200,000 people access this location,” he said.

He also noted that when the new store opens, Brandon will have more liquor stores per capita than Winnipeg.

But Brandon West Conservative MLA Rick Borotsik said the Wheat City is still getting treated in a second-class way when it comes to wine sales, as the government still hasn’t allowed any private wine stores to open here, like it has in the provincial capital.

“I think it would be only fair that Brandon be treated the same as Winnipeg,” he said.

Mayor Dave Burgess, who was also at Thursday’s announcement in the Corral Centre parking lot, said he was pleased by the province’s decision to build a third liquor store in Brandon to go along with the one in the Shoppers Mall and the one at 10th Street and Victoria Avenue, next to city hall.

“I feel a little over-serviced myself, personally,” the mayor joked. “I have half a block from my office to go to a liquor store and two blocks from my house to go to the next one.”