Global convenience store chain 7-Eleven will launch alcoholic products in its stores across Ontario, Canada from 5 September 2024.  

This follows its receipt of liquor store licences from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission (AGCO)of Ontario.  

The retailer will be permitted to sell beer, cider, wine and ready-to-drink beverages in its eligible convenience stores across the province.  

The company is preparing its 58 locations for the new venture by training staff and adapting store layouts. 

7-Eleven’s move to sell alcohol complements its existing food offerings, which include taquitos, chicken wings,and sandwiches.  

7-Eleven Canada vice-president and general manager Marc Goodman was quoted by CityNews Toronto: "We look at ourselves as a restaurant first that sells convenience store items. Traditional convenience store items like cigarettes and other products have continuously declined year after year. And so as an industry, we need to go and re-shape ourselves." 

The granted licences will enable 7-Eleven to serve alcoholic beverages alongside food at tables within a dining section of each store, which will be separated from the retail area by a 1m-high wall.  

The designated dining areas will contain at least ten seats, and alcohol will be available from noon to 11pm daily.  

Customers will not be allowed to take alcoholic drinks off the premises. 

Goodman shared with 680 NewsRadio that the company plans to dedicate 20% of its fridge space in each store to alcohol, in addition to 6ft of room temperature space.  

Marc Goodman said: "We hope it will become a traffic driver.   

"Our plan is to be competitive with the marketplace, the Beer Store, the LCBO [Liquor Control Board of Ontario]."  

This development comes in the wake of the AGCO's decision last week to suspend the liquor sales licence of WAVE KTV, located in Scarborough, Ontario.