Contrary to what you might believe from the look of it, The Beer Store is not a government organization.  It sure looks like one – the bland store layouts, lack of shopping experience, functional ordering procedure, etc.  But it is a private enterprise, and one of, if not the most archaic retail dinosaurs in our society.  The Beer Store is operated by Brewers Retail Inc., a government-sanctioned company which is owned by Molson, Labatt and Sleeman, a.k.a. MolsonCoors, InBev and Sapporo.  We’ll have more on The Beer Store as we go.  In the meantime, please see this excellent Beer Store ownership overview from the recent series about The Beer Store from the Toronto Star.