One half rate The Beer Store highly

One half rate The Beer Store highly

Majority want it to lose monopoly

TORONTO December 20^th, 2014 – In a random sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll™ among 1058 Ontario voters, one half approve of The Beer Store (TBS), the foreign-owned quasi-monopolistic retailer of beer in Ontario (50%), while just 3-in-10 disapprove (31%). One fifth don't have an opinion (19%). Approval of TBS is common to females (56%), in northern Ontario (59%), among Liberals (54%), Green Party voters (60%), the least educated (54%), Catholics (55%) and Christians who are neither Protestant, Evangelical nor Catholic (56%).

Majority Agree TBS does a good job selling beer

The majority of Ontario voters agree TBS does a good job selling beer (55%), and this is especially the case among the less wealthy ($20K to $40K - 62%), Green voters (61%), mothers of children under 18 (64%), the least educated (61%) and Catholics (62%). This compares favourably to their opinion on the same question the last time we asked it (November 2013 - "Beer Store does a good job of retailing beer" - 60%).

One half want TBS to lose monopoly

One half of Ontario voters agree TBS should lose its quasi-monopoly on cold beer sales (51%), and this is especially characteristic of Boomers (55 to 64 - 55%), males (63%), the wealthier ($80K to $100K - 62%, $100K to $250K - 56%), in Toronto 416 area code (61%), among PC voters (55%), the best educated (post grad - 65%) and those who are not religious (64%). This compares with a similar proportion who said this the last time we polled (February, 2012 - "Beer Store should lose monopoly" - 60%).

 “Most voters are used to The Beer Store and have no experience with anything else, and this contributes to its generally positive ratings. Monopolies are unpopular, however, and even those who have never bought beer anywhere but a Brewer's Retail or Beer Store want freedom of choice," said Forum Research President, Dr. Lorne Bozinoff.

Lorne Bozinoff, Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416) 960-9603.