Independent grocers and convenience stores are concerned small business will be left out in the cold as Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government moves toward sales of beer and wine in supermarkets.

Losing out on lucrative alcohol sales licences to bigger and more deep-pocketed rivals would make it harder to stay in business as the retail landscape shifts, lobby groups warned Friday.

Depending on how the licence auction is structured, major chains like Loblaws, Metro, Sobey’s, Walmart stores with grocery departments and Costco could conceivably snap up all the permits.

That could leave family-owned and other small supermarkets at a disadvantage in luring customers seeking one-stop shopping for food and drink.

“Independent grocery stores can’t compete on price because they don’t have the buying power,” said Tom Barlow of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, whose group represents small-town stores and big-city operations like Longo’s, Fiesta Farms and Bruno’s.

“They compete on variety and service,” noted Barlow, who added the federation remains “optimistic about what the government is doing.”

While Premier Kathleen Wynne has ruled out beer and wine in convenience stores, their lobby group has not given up its efforts to get a piece of the action.

“I’m not here to say let’s open the market up to every convenience store, that’s not the answer,” said Dave Bryans of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association.

With supermarket chains increasingly opening small urban outlets aimed at neighbourhood walk-ins and condo dwellers, Bryans said shutting out “well run” chain stores like Rabba, 7-11 and Mac’s would be “unfair to small businesses.”

“Rabba, for example, is in fierce competition with grocery stores,” he added, noting the Toronto-area chain is a member of both his group and the independent grocers.

Bryans also called on the government to put another 100 Liquor Control of Ontario “agency stores” into existing convenience shops in rural Ontario to increase availability to customers in areas without LCBO outlets nearby.

The cash-strapped government, seeking to erase its $12.5-billion deficit, could bring more money in through the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. by selling beer and wine in select convenience stores, he added.

“Beer is no different than tobacco — it’s a traffic generator. If the line-ups in Beer Stores were in convenience stores, think how many more lottery tickets we’d sell.”

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