Save-on Wine Store
Orchard & Vine talked to Steve Moriarty, Wine Director for Save On Foods about their VQA wine stores.
O&V: Are you able to give me a little background on how you got into the wine business?
Steve Moriarty: We are a locally owned and based company, focused on innovative and local BC Business priorities, our primary goal is to find and support new trends and source new opportunities, local wine was and is a natural complement to our local business support business plan… we saw it as a tremendous new opportunity to give our customers, more local, more convenience and more meal solutions.
O&V: Was Save On actively working with the government to get grocery wine sales launched?
Steve Moriarty: We were not actively working with the government other than to indicate that we were interested if an opportunity became available.
O&V: Did you have a preference for BC wine at the time?
Steve Moriarty: Absolutely as a singular priority!
O&V: Were you considering the VQA licenses that were out there?
Steve Moriarty: We considered a lot of different scenarios, but, really the only footprint that supported our local BC wine priority was to explore the BCWI VQA licences format.
O&V: How did you come to acquire the BC VQA licenses? Were they all business transactions like with Tracy Gray at Discover? Were some of the licenses not active in retail at the time?
Steve Moriarty: Our first two licenses were essentially dormant VQA licenses that had previously been closed, the rest of the Licenses were being used by 3rd party Agreement Holders of which we had to purchase their business and rights to their Agreement with the BCWI.
O&V: How have wine sales progressed in your stores? Do you have numbers on sales and growth that you are able to share with me?
Steve Moriarty: We are a private company and do not share sales data publicly. We can say we are delighted with the customer response, support and appreciation for our Local Wine Only selection.
O&V: With the new USMCA, I understand that the BC VQA licenses are “grandfathered in” from the old NAFTA. How does your business interpret that?
Steve Moriarty: Our interpretation is that these licenses are exempt from any competition agreements signed after NAFTA.
O&V: Do you believe the side letter agreement for US wine sales in grocery will affect your current practice of selling only BC VQA?
Steve Moriarty: Nothing stops us today. We could sell non BC wine today, the business model exists, we just choose not to. So further to that, we have no interest in NOT supporting 100 % locally made Wine. We have no indication that the future will force us to sell any products that we have no interest in selling and that no component in the agreements could force the sale of any products…
O&V: Are you in discussions with either level of government on any possible changes to your current practice?
Steve Moriarty: The BCWI owns the VQA licenses, and as the legal owner they would be the party involved in any discussions. We are not in discussions regarding the SWS licenses we own.
O&V: Do you feel there is any pressure on your business from government to change and open shelf space to US wines?
Steve Moriarty: Regardless of any pressure, we understand that we have no legal obligation to sell anything we don’t want to.
O&V: Are you at this time considering selling US wine in Save On stores?
Steve Moriarty: At this time we have no plans to alter our current business plan/strategy that focuses only on 100% locally produced wine.
O&V: if not, do you have any sense of how this trade promise might be carried out in BC?
Steve Moriarty: While we are not experts on the agreement nor any promises made, today and in the near future, there is no existing legislation that provides any framework nor the regulatory directions to proceed. So any speculation is purely hypothetical.
