Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, our provincial government ran the show. They were the only ones who could import and sell alcohol in our province. This caused some issues with the local supply of many different types of alcohol, one of which was Port. They gave that up some time around 1992/93 if my rapidly-pickling memory serves me. Nowadays liquor/beer stores are privately-owned and operated under legislation that control the framework, but pretty much anything that is available can be brought in if it can be sourced. However, all liquor/beer/wine stores in and around the city of Edmonton go through central warehouses - run by a company called ConnecLogistics. While they (Connec) do say they will bring any type of alcohol in that a store desires, of course they are limited by quantity. They will only ship a certain number of crates of any given alcohol at a time. This has ramifications on what they will order.
Say StoreA wants to bring in three cases of Fonseca 2003 Vintage Port. If Connec imposes a minimum order of 10 cases for their warehouse facility, StoreA would have to rely on other stores ordering cases of Fonseca 2003 VP as well. As soon as there is demand for 10 cases (or more) of this particular Port, it will be ordered (by Connec) and brought into the warehouse.
ConnecLogistics says that they "add value" to the process by acting as a proper storage facility for high-end spirits (wines, Ports, Bordeaux, etc) by maintaining separate storage locations for the high end stuff. It is apparently divided into many sub-rooms all with proper humidity and temperature controls according to the type of spirit being stored within. This is indeed a 'value-add' and even MORE importantly, for smaller shops that may not be able to afford proper storage facilities onsite for their own stocks, they will allow the stores to keep their allocated orders in their warehouse facilities. This is great for the small business owner, but again, they have to be careful - ConnecLogistics will only ship them minimum orders of crates when they want to pull their stock OUT of the storage facility. This could mean that StoreA would have to order their 3 cases of Fonseca 2003 along with 2 cases of Bordeaux and 5 cases of something else, just to get ONE case of Fonseca. For the stores that do not churn a lot of their stock often enough, this becomes a concern.
While it may seem wonderful on the surface, two major problems arise from this structure. The first problem is that selection is, by it's very nature, limited by minimum case orders. If only two or three stores around town wish to bring in a couple of cases of a product (new to the market or not wildly popular) they either have to eat the cost of a minimum case order (whether that be 10 cases or 20 or 100 - I am not aware of the specifics of the "minimum case order" as it apparently varies by type of product) or they forget about the order until another store or two place an order with Connec for the same product and it is brought in to the main warehouse.
The second problem is that many stores end up having to elevate heir prices due to the storage and delivery fees that are levied by ConnecLogistics. While they will allow StoreA to keep their 3 cases of Fonseca 2003 VP in their humidity/temperature controll "cellar" facility, StoreB and StoreC may be doing the same thing. There are set periods of time in which StoreA can "pull" their inventory from the facility, without being charged anything above and beyond the base charge Connec assesses for bringing in the product and delivering it (being the "local middleman.") Let's say StoreA orders 10 cases of Fonseca 2003 VP in 2006, when it first is shipped to Canada. They have 3 delievered to their store because they have sufficient facilities to accommodate a display rack of several bottles and the remainder in their temperature/humidity controlled room onsite. The remaining 7 remain in Connec's storage facility. If the 'cut-off' limit for additional charges is 2008, two years after the stock is brought in, and only 2 more cases have been shipped out to StoreA through-out 2006 and 2007. In 2008, there remain 5 cases of Fonseca 2003 VP. StoreA receives an order for 2 cases of 2003 VP from Todd to lay down for his son, who was born in 2003. Because Todd is ordering the Port in 2008, not only has the value of the Fonseca likely appreciated due to time and inflation, an additional surcharge must be built in to the cost by StoreA because ConnecLogistics is now charging them for storing the Port from 2008, Jan1 (the cut off date) until the delivery date.
You can see very quickly how the availability and price of Port becomes such a bone of contention with me in my lovely city. This system sucks but there is really very little I can do about it.
I am at present researching import laws for the province. I have a sneaking suspicion from the lack of information publicly available on all the government websites that this is why ConnecLogistics was formed - to do the overhead ordering and deal with the political headache of importing alcohol.
Okay... I'll jump off the soapbox now.
:blah: :blah: Sorry for the uber-long explanation, but I figured some might find it (horribly) fascinating and sympathize with my plight to find good port! :) I know in researching it I found it fascinating (and horrible all at the same time!) I now understand why I have to pay such a premium for my port - it is a headache that the Stores take off my plate. So I suppose I should be thankful for that!
Todd
