St. Albert’s liquor distribution warehouse will remain in operation despite the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission’s plans to bring all of its spirits under one roof in the coming years.
A recent press release by the commission said it was planning to build a new liquor distribution centre in 2014. The building will serve as the province’s main supplier for spirits, wine and imported beers, and eliminate the need to lease extra storage space, said commission president Bill Robinson.
“There is more product since privatization ... we registered many thousands of new products and we continue to register new products,” he said. “We got a number of warehouses in operation now and this will bring everything home, correlate everything under one roof.”
The main St. Albert warehouse at 50 Corriveau Ave. was built in 1983 and remained the sole facility until the privatization of liquor in 1993.
Since then, available products increased from 2,200 at the time of privatization to nearly 18,000 products today (in total 27,000 products are now registered with the commission).
Robinson said these high volumes required the commission to operate three additional storage facilities. The warehouses, all located in Edmonton, will likely close once the new building becomes operational.
A press release by the commission said the St. Albert warehouse will be “re-engineered to support the new facility.” In the future, it will house slower-moving, specialty liquors, said Robinson, avoiding the construction of an additional 200,000 square foot storage facility.
“We will eventually slow it down and reconfigure it to suit the needs of what’s happening in the industry,” Robinson said. “It’s a great benefit to have that warehouse and a new one, of course. It gives us a lot of flexibility and … makes sure that product moves quickly and efficient.”
In Alberta, retailers must order their product through a single distributor, Connect Logistics. The Ohio-based company takes orders from stores and delivers liquor around the province. Distribution costs are not expected to go up with the construction of the new facility.
Robinson said the new warehouse will merge all storage and shipping of liquors, ensuring a faster and more cost-efficient supply system. With more than 550,000 square feet of storage area, it will also provide the commission with as much space as all three Edmonton warehouses combined.
The commission is hopeful to get things moving fairly quickly, he said. Construction is expected to start in early 2014, tentatively finishing three years later. The total project cost is slated at $80 million, including land, design and construction costs.
He added that it was too early to announce a location for the new warehouse. The building will remain in the capital region though to maximize efficiencies at the St. Albert warehouse, he said.
“It will be in the Edmonton area here somewhere. St. Albert, Edmonton,” he said. “But we are still negotiating and we can’t say much about it.”
