Andrew Peller Ltd T.ADW.A

The Wine Shop - LCBO strike

[Jonathan9]

I stopped by one this evening and it was packed.  LCBO strike should provide short term boost either through pull ahead sales at LCBO or increased traffic through The Wine Shops.

Longer term - increased exposure to their products.

Depending on how long the strike lasts, I think this is a net benefit for Andrew Peller.  Something positive.

[Puma1back]

my closest loblaws has the other Private wine supplier - anyway, asked them yesterday what the 5th was like and she said it was crazy - as busy as Canada day - so it seems at least off one sample to be initially a strong positive   

[rustyblades]

Received emails today from Trius and Peller offering free delivery for online orders (over a minimum value). They've done this in the past but now the disounts on the bottles are not as large. This increased demand should allow them to reduce inventories. Also margins should improve as the increased sales at the outlets can probably be handled with minimal increase in staffing levels.

[Consvestor]

Does anyone know the normal ratio of their LCBO sales vs own brand store sales? I'm not sure that it's a slam dunk that they are better off with LCBO closed.

[rustyblades]

The old ratio doesn't matter. What has changed with the strike is that foreign wine is not as readily available to retail buyers. Ontario consumers wanting to buy wine are limted to product sold in the supermarkets, winery stores and LCBO agency stores (mostly in remote communities) which are unaffected by the strike. It only takes a small percentage of people who would normally buy foreign

[johnathamilton]

In the next quarter, this strike could provide quite a revenue bump for Peller. Good points, as long as the extra revenue doesn't get sucked away by increased SG&A expenses as has happened numerous times in the past. 

[Jonathan9]

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/wine-rack-says-it-is-seeing-surge-in-traffic-record-sales-amid-ongoing-lcbo-strike-1.6960409

[Jonathan9]

https://www.thestar.com/business/some-grocery-wine-shelves-almost-empty-as-panic-buying-ramps-up/article_cfb13268-3f90-11ef-8f55-7bfe4fb68437.html

[rustyblades]

Yesterday I spoke to someone who works in one of the winery stores and she said the activity now is similar to when the LCBO was closed during COVID but the winery stores were still open. In those days they went through three months of inventory in three weeks. Perhaps not all stores were that busy but still encouraging. I hope that some of the extra profit will find its way to the employees

[Jonathan9]

Local Wine Shop had empty shelves. Sold out of almost everything. Only some odd bottles of white wine and some large sizes left.  Some missed sales for sure due to no inventory available.  Hope they were prepared for this opportunity. Either demand was even higher than expected or they weren't ready. Long term hoped it created some brand awareness for people to come back for future

[Puma1back]

Definitely agree that situation was a good opportunity for them to intro their products to some new customers who maybe hadn't even shopped for booze in the grocery stores.   

[Jonathan9]

Still seeing elevated traffic in the local Wine Shop even after the end to LCBO strike.  Limited inventory on some items.