Wine will be removed from the shelves of all Eastern Cape supermarkets from June this year. But, water sells better than wine is the reaction of one supermarket owner to the new law.
Wine will be removed from the shelves of all Eastern Cape supermarkets from June this year. But, water sells better than wine is the reaction of one supermarket owner to the new law.
East London’s Vincent Spar owner, Frank McGlashan fully prepared his store for the implementation of the act, removing wine from his shelves seven years ago and opening up a separate liquor store.
“The act is no problem at all, we have made space for water,” McGlashan said. “Water actually sells way better than wine.”
Liquor stores linked to retailers – Pick n Pay Liquor, Tops and Checkers LiquorShop – have been sprouting up all over the Eastern Cape in response to the Eastern Cape Liquor Act that was promulgated on 13 September 2004.
In 2004, registration for a retail liquor licence allowed wine to be sold in retail stores for just ten more years, after which all registrations were to lapse.
The date at which all wine will no longer be allowed to be sold in supermarkets is May 31 2014.
Retailers such as Pick n Pay, Spar, Checkers and Woolworths were allowed to apply for registration to sell all forms of liquor (including beer and spirits) on separate premises five years after the date of commencement of the act in 2004.
Zuko Lizani, an inspector for the Eastern Cape Liquor Board, said that retailers have been given enough time to establish separate liquor stores on their premises.
When asked about the reasoning behind the act Lizani said, “To prevent a child from being exposed to liquor when buying bread.”
Local retail store owners have taken the steps towards constructing their own separate liquor stores.
Pick n Pay opened Pick n Pay liquors, situated in Pepper Grove, last year December.
When asked how he felt about the act, manager Jon Campbell said that currently some customers walk past wine in the store and buy it on impulse, but when it is removed, they might not think of going to the liquor store.
However, smaller local liquor stores are feeling the brunt of the act.
Buddies Liquor Store recently closed down and Graham Liquors has decided to join Blue Bottle Liquors.
Co-owner of the Graham hotel and liquor store, Pierre Repinz said that their reason for this is to “compete with the bigger guys, be competitive, and get our prices right.”
Repinz said that such an act will always affect independent liquor stores.
“It’s all about convenience for people: out of the supermarket and into the liquor store next door.”
Clinical psychologist Ann Ashburner questioned the motive behind implementing the act, and the kind of effect that it could possibly have.
While Ashburner considers that the act may curb the impulse buying of wine, she says that alcohol is a gateway drug that people will manage to access regardless of any regulation.
Ashburner said that new research has been released stating that the frontal lobe of the human brain is only fully developed by the age of 23.
Substances such as alcohol can have a serious affect on this maturation.
“People will always be able to find it,” Ashburner said, “But I am glad that concern is being shown because people will start thinking about it a bit more and acknowledge that alcohol is not benign.”
