SLGA runs up total sales of former liquor stores to $3.5 million

Another former liquor store in Saskatchewan has been sold.

On Monday, the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA) announced it had accepted an offer of $260,000 for its former property in Assiniboia.

The SLGA previously had made deals for its former retail outlets in Fort Qu’Appelle, Watrous, Biggar, Esterhazy, La Ronge, Buffalo Narrows, Creighton, Carlyle, Humboldt and Moosomin. Those sales have amounted to $3,515,000.

All 34 of the SLGA’s retail stores ceased operations earlier this year, with the last of the stores closing March 11.

The sales were the result of the provincial government announcing it was leaving the liquor retail business in last fall’s Throne Speech. At the time, Premier Scott Moe said it was “not a core business of government” and announced the closure of the remaining 34 SLGA stores around Saskatchewan.

Workers at the stores found out about the closures at the same time the public did and many tried to raise their voices in protest, but the plan went ahead.

Private permits were put up for auction in communities where SLGA stores were closing, and those sales brought in a total of $45,077,800.

SLGA Retail Inc. owned 19 of the 34 buildings that housed its stores. The government said four of the buildings were to be repurposed for other government organizations.

In 2022-23, the SLGA posted a record profit of $518 million. The authority is still the wholesaler and distributor of alcohol in Saskatchewan as well as the regulator of liquor, gaming and cannabis for the province.