Larger grocery stores in Victoria and across B.C. will be able to open in-house liquor stores or buy existing liquor stores and rebrand them come spring, according to provincial regulations announced Friday.

But that’s only if grocers ante up the bucks to buy a licence from one of 670 private liquor stores in B.C. The province is not increasing the number of private licences, so licences will sell for whatever the market will bear, said Jeff Groot, director of communications for the Ministry of Justice.

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Thrifty Foods is enthusiastic about the option, said Ralf Mundel, spokesman for the 26-store chain, including 11 in Greater Victoria. “I certainly foresee the day when there is a liquor offering within a Thrifty Foods building,” he said. “We will do anything that provides a better full-food experience to customers, and beer and wine are integral ingredients to that.”

Customers have told Thrifty Foods and the province that they’re interested in one-stop shopping including alcohol, Mundel said. “So it’s incumbent upon us to respond to that customer sentiment.”

It’s too early to tell which stores it would work in and which would be out of the question, Mundel said. But he noted that the Cloverdale store does not have a liquor outlet within a kilometre, one of the requirements the province has imposed.

Robert Jay, spokesman for Fairway Markets, said most of its 10 stores, eight of which are in the Victoria area, are located in malls that already house government liquor stores.

Even where there are nearby private liquor stores, “I don’t foresee buying existing licences from existing stores,” he said.

Rob McKay, marketing director for Quality Foods, said the liquor option is “positive and it’s free enterprise,” but the company does not yet know if it will take the step in any of its 12 stores on the Island.

Darryl Hein, manager of the Market on Yates, said in-store liquor sales are not of interest to the outlet. And he noted the combination stores might not prove to be as popular as some predict.

Only stores of at least 10,000 square feet that maintain 75 per cent of their sales from food products will be allowed to sell liquor, the province has said.

But there is nothing to stop a large food store from buying the licence of a private liquor store and re-branding it with its own name, Groot said.

Neither big box stores nor convenience stores are eligible.

Details on how grocery stores could have just a few shelves of B.C. wine are expected in the coming months, but even those stores would be required to have a liquor licence. Justice Minister Suzanne Anton said in a statement that the option for one-stop shopping “strikes the balance of added convenience for consumers and support for B.C.’s business sector, while at the same time respecting health and public-safety considerations.”

John Yap, parliamentary secretary for liquor policy reform, said the change reflects B.C. residents’ desire to “grab a bottle of wine along with their evening groceries on their way home from work.”

kdedyna@timescolonist.com