Beer and wine could be coming to a supermarket near you.

The Star’s Martin Regg Cohn reported that Kathleen Wynne intends to introduce plans to bring beer and wine to hundreds of large supermarkets in the spring budget expected next week.

But questions remain as to what this plan will look like if it is implemented in grocery stores. Here are some of the possible issues:

1. Who will sell the beer and wine to customers?

Many cashiers at grocery stores are under 18 and won’t be able to sell alcohol. Will grocery stores start hiring only people 18 and over, or will there be designated cashiers for alcohol sales? In Ontario, employees handling liquor must attend Smart Serve training, and employees at the LCBO or Beer Store receive training on how to check identification in order to ensure customers are complying with the province’s legal drinking age. But it’s unclear what kind of training grocery clerks would receive.

2. How late will consumers be able to purchase beer or wine?

Some grocery stores are open 24 hours a day. When will alcohol sales stop? Will there be a uniform cut-off, or will it operate on a store-to-store basis? In Quebec, where beer and wine is available in grocery stores as well as convenience stores, alcohol sales must stop either by 11 p.m. or when the store closes, whichever is earliest.

3. How will this affect prices?

In 2014, the Beer Store touted a study that suggested the cost of a case of 24 beers could rise to $50. Cohn reported that Wynne intends to charge the Beer Store a franchise fee of as much as $100 million a year. On the one hand, this could lead to price hikes. On the other, increased competition from other retailers might mean the Beer Store will prove its value to consumers by keeping prices down.

4. What does this mean for craft beer?

Craft brewers have been vocal about their opposition to the Beer Store monopoly, which is controlled by foreign owners. But it’s not clear what Wynne’s move to liberalize the sale of beer will mean for small local producers. Will they be able to work out distribution deals with individual grocery stores? Will grocery stores be permitted to sell craft beer from outside the province, or must it all be local?

5. Will there be limits on quantity?

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Currently, the Beer Store is the only retailer that can sell the more economical 12-packs and-24-packs of beer. In December, Cohn revealed a secret agreement between the LCBO and Beer Store that restricted the LCBO from selling anything bigger than a six-pack. Will this change at the grocery store? Will there be a limit on the total amount that one customer can buy?

Correction – March 17, 2015: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said the legal selling age is 19. In fact, the legal drinking age is 19 and the legal selling age is 18.

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