After shuttering outlets across Ontario for more than a year in the face of revamped alcohol resale laws, The Beer Store is opening two new locations in Toronto.
The move comes roughly half a year on from the day the alcohol retailer struck a deal with grocery chains to handle returns for empty cans and bottles.
On June 22, a new location will open on Kingston Road in Scarborough, while another Beer Store will begin operations on Don Mills Road in North York on June 29.
“This is great news for customers and those looking to return empty alcohol containers for a deposit refund,” Ozzie Ahmed, VP of retail at The Beer Store, said in a statement.
“We’re excited to be opening stores and welcoming customers. We know how important it is to make returning empties easy and convenient for people across Ontario.”
The opening of new stores reverses a trend which saw the booze giant closing outlets in major cities — places like Toronto, London and Mississauga — as well as small communities like Little Current or Mattawa.
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Those closures were the result of an agreement with the Ford government in 2024, which announced it would pay The Beer Store $225 million to allow corner, convenience and big box stores to sell beer, wine and ready-to-mix drinks.
The funds were to be paid to The Beer Store in chunks on condition that it mitigated job losses and kept 300 stores open until the end of 2025.
Late last year, the government confirmed the full pot had been spent, while The Beer Store came within a handful of stores of closing the maximum number it was allowed.
From Jan. 1, 2o26, there were no limits on how many locations could be shuttered.
But then, in November, The Beer Store signed an agreement for its stores to collect empties on behalf of the grocery chains that are now allowed to sell beer, wine and ready-to-drink beverages.
The broad strokes of the agreement meant that consumers will continue to exchange empties for their deposits at Beer Store locations, with grocers footing the bill and the brewers committing to ensuring there is a point of recycling available within 10 km for the vast majority of the population.
Behind-the-scenes talks between brewers and grocers — facilitated by the government — had been ongoing for months, sparked by an earlier deal the government reached with The Beer Store in order to speed up Ford’s plan of expanding alcohol sales to convenience stores and more grocery stores.
That deal involved requiring grocery stores more than five kilometres away from a Beer Store to accept empty returns and extending that obligation to all grocers selling alcohol on Jan. 1.
Many were not complying with that requirement and had warned the government they would stop selling alcohol if the program wasn’t improved, threatening Premier Doug Ford’s much-touted alcohol expansion.
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