ESTEVAN - Brandon Geerts says he is thrilled to have The LB Liquor Store open in Estevan.
The business held its grand opening Thursday night, with a large crowd converging on the celebrations. The event featured samples and tastings from suppliers, discounts and a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Beatz Eatz’s food truck was on site.
LB Liquor is located in the former site of the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority’s Estevan store, on the property of the Estevan Market Mall. The SLGA store closed in mid-February as part of the Government of Saskatchewan’s move to exit from the sale of alcohol.
The new business has a variety of alcohol to meet customers' tastes.
“It feels pretty surreal [to be open],” said Geerts, who is the president of retail operations for LB Liquor. “It’s been a busy three weeks while we’ve taken possession of this building. We took it on June 1st and it’s been a very, very busy few weeks for us to turn this around into a full-functional liquor store in that short amount of time.”
The LB Liquor Store purchased the Estevan retail permit that belonged to the SLGA store back in February, and then the process of getting the store open began. They had to tackle preparation work, get ready for hiring, determine needs for equipment, and arrange for contract work and supplies.
“It’s about 6,000 square feet now, which we feel is the right size for a liquor store in Estevan,” said Geerts. “We had it painted, we refinished the floors. The exterior was refinished. The signage was put on.”
An 800-square-foot walk-in cooler should be ready by the end of summer, he said. It will have ready-to-drink beverages and all of beer. The beer is on shelves and stand-up coolers; those coolers, which are located at the entrance to what will be the walk-in cooler, will eventually be removed.
LB Liquor will employ about 10 people.
The old SLGA store occupied about 9,000 square feet. Another business will eventually move into the building.
Geerts said their approach is to be a competitive player in terms of price and provide good value to the people of Estevan. They’re also looking to offer a good shopping experience, so employees were hired with customer service skills in mind.
“In Estevan, there was an opportunity for us to get a permit here, and the partnership that owns LB Liquor Stores saw this size of community and thought it was a good fit for what we are trying to do.”
The company is excited to be here and looking forward to being part of the community.
As for the name, Geerts said some people realize LB used to be the slang name for the SLGA Liquor Board store.
“We decided we should take a name that has some brand recognition already in the province of Saskatchewan, and we decided to call it LB liquor stores. So that’s where the name comes from.”
During the grand opening, he introduced the members of the team, including manager Danielle Millar and Nicholas Wawryk, who is the general manager of operations, technology & Marketing.
“Danielle and her team moved mountains this week to get us to this point, and I have no doubt the success you’ll see from this store,” said Geerts.
He also thanked his family for being so understanding during the past couple of months.
The Estevan location is the first for The LB Liquor Store in Saskatchewan. They also purchased the permit for Weyburn, but that store is not open yet. He hopes it will be open before the end of the summer.
