Article Excerpt:
TWST: We'd like to begin with a brief historical sketch of Liquor Stores Income Fund and a picture of the things you are doing at the present time.Mr. Kipnes: The company was formed on September 28, 2004, with the merger of two chains called Liquor World and Liquor Depot, primarily operating in Alberta. We had 50 stores at the time of the merger, and we went public on the same day. Since then, we've grown from 50 stores to 76 stores that are operating mostly in Alberta, but five of the stores are in British Columbia. The businesses of the company are operating, acquiring and developing liquor stores. Right now, we are on a growth path that will continue like it did last year, when we acquired and developed 25 stores.
TWST: Is your emphasis more on acquiring or developing new stores?
Mr. Kipnes: The answer is both. The opportunities for developing new
stores at the right locations are fairly limited in Alberta because
privatization occurred in 1994. At the time of privatization, there were
206 Alberta Liquor Control Board stores, 25 wine stores and about 30
beer stores ' the wine and beer stores were independently operated and
licensed. In March 1994, all of the government liquor stores shut down
and were taken over by private industry. We now have about 1,050 stores
in Alberta. So there has been very large growth over that period of
time, though it's been level for the last three or four years at about
1,000 or 1,050. And the growth of stores somewhat tracks the population
growth of about 4% or 5%. But our business is basically consolidating
liquor stores on one hand and opening new stores on the other. We expect
to open eight new stores this year, one of which has already opened, the
second of which will open in a couple of weeks, and the others are in
one stage of devolvement or another.
Tickers included in this excerpt: LIQ:TSX
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