Supermarkets in Kitchener, Cambridge, Guelph and Paris are now legally able to sell beer.
Tuesday marked the first day of legalized beer sales at 58 grocery stores across Ontario.
Included in that number are the Real Canadian Superstore at Highland and Fischer-Hallman roads in Kitchener, the Zehrs on Conestoga Boulevard in Cambridge, the Metro at Stone and Edinburgh roads in Guelph, and the Sobeys in Paris.
Beer pricing at those stores will be the same as at LCBO or The Beer Store locations, while a minimum of 20 per cent of shelf space must be set aside for craft brewers.
The Beer Store will remain the only place to sell 24-packs of beer. Twelve-packs will remain the domain of The Beer Store and certain LCBO locations.
At least some stores will sell beer outside of the hours in which The Beer Store and LCBO outlets are open.
At the Kitchener store, for example, beer will be sold between 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. – even though The Beer Store has a location in the same plaza which closes at 9 p.m.
On the first day of sales, the store had one checkout lane dedicated for customers purchasing beer, with a SmartServe-trained clerk.
Store manager Mark Shedden said he plans to train more cashiers and allow customers with beer to eventually use all checkout lanes.
The province expects to allow up to 450 stores to sell beer by 2017.
An interactive version of the map below is available online.
