The Wingham LCBO store is celebrating 50 years of service on Thursday, June 9. There will be a cake cutting and coffee will be served at 11:00 am.
The LCBO has come a long way since the days when you filled out a form to buy a bottle. The stores were all counter service until the LCBO began converting them to self-serve operations in the 1970s and 80s with the last ones converted in the early 1990s. LCBO stores have evolved over the years to become more user-friendly. The stores today offer more product selection and services. There are monthly in-store thematic promotions. We have introduced marketing initiatives like FOOD & DRINK magazine and limited time offers (price discounts) on select products. The strategy has been to make LCBO shopping more informative by providing consumers with ideas for entertaining, not just bottles on the shelf. In this way, we can address changing consumer tastes and better serve customers who have become increasingly more knowledgeable about beverage alcohol products.
Drink preferences have also changed over the years. In 1961, Canadian whisky was the big seller with rum and gin also popular choices. Interest in wines was primarily limited to fortified wines such as ports and sherries. Over the years consumer interest shifted to table wines, starting with popular blended wines in the 1980s and 1990s and then to varietal wines (Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Riesling, Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc) in recent years. Generally speaking, as consumers become more knowledgeable about beverage alcohol, they trade up to higher quality, more premium-style products.
Below is a scan of a page from a 1961 LCBO price book — check the whisky prices!