I’m back from our trip and finally had a chance to drop into the Save-On Orchard Plaza and check out their BC VQA wine store in-grocery-aisle. I was impressed with the setup.
- the wine display was right in the front of the store and very visible as soon as you walked in the store door.
- the staff were well trained and knowledgeable.
- there was a wide selection of BC VQA wines.
- the on going wine tasting was handled professionally
- they had my favorite sparkling wine in the cooler display case!
There are 6 BCWI BC VQA wine stores currently located in grocery: Wines of British Columbia Save-On-Foods Fleetwood; Langley; South Point & Tsawwassen – each of which have over 900 different, and distinct, BCVQA 100% BC wine on their shelves and the two Kelowna Stores – Save-On Orchard Plaza (opened Feb 18) and The Overwaitea Food Group will be opening a sixth location at Save-On-Foods on Richter Street in the Mission later in March.
The province is also getting ready to auction off up to 18 BC VQA licences. Six will be made available beginning in April with the balance at a date yet to be determined. Interested stores must pre-register and provide a $25,000 deposit for each licence they wish to bid on. The deposit is returned to unsuccessful bidders.