Some Toronto grocery stores have cut beer and wine sales. This is why

A handful of grocers in Toronto have stopped selling alcohol due to rising levels of theft and razor-thin margins.

A trip to a grocery store in Toronto for your favourite wine or beer could leave you empty-handed.

That’s because a handful of grocers in the city have quietly stopped selling alcohol due to rising levels of theft and razor-thin margins.

“It's really becoming unmanageable and getting out of hand. And so some grocers have taken the decision to remove these products from their shelves,” Retail Council of Canada spokesperson Michelle Wasylyshen told CTV News Toronto.

Since 2015, grocers across Ontario have been able to sell wine and beer in their stores under the Master Framework Agreement, signed by the previous Liberal government. The 10-year deal with the foreign-owned Beer Store limits the margins grocery stores can make on the sale of wine and beer.

Eligible large and small-sized retailers applied to sell the products but had to keep their margins between 2 and 6.99 per cent.

According to Wasylyshen, the average margin on beer and wine sales for large grocers represented by the Retail Council of Canada in Ontario is 2.2 per cent.

“It's always been really tight for them. But now it's actually physically a loss, they are selling these products at a loss and it's not sustainable,” she said.