Author: admin

From ready-to-drink cocktails to de-alcoholized wine, Ontarians showed a strong preference for new formats and local producers throughout the past year.

LCBO took its annual look back at consumer preferences when it comes to beverage alcohol.

This past year Ontarians embraced the opportunity to discover something new amidst restrictions on U.S.-produced products, new points of sale, and innovative new product releases.

“This year we saw trends shift in response to industry changes and a growing desire to support local, with more than 20 per cent growth in demand for Ontario products”, said Abhay Garg, Vice President, Merchandising. “Customers were motivated to try something new – often from our own backyard – which is great for local producers.”

Beer, Cider and Ready-to-Drink

Both beer (+22%) and ready-to-drink (RTD) coolers (+21%) experienced a significant boost throughout the year – partly driven by their availability at more points of sale outside of the LCBO. Meanwhile, at the LCBO, the expansion of large format beer (i.e. 12, 24 and 30 packs) across the province, drove 42% growth over the previous year, with the 30-pack being the most popular large-pack format.

Ontario’s craft beer and cider customers flocked to tried-and-true favourites, flavour innovation, and seasonal releases from local producers, while interest in classic Belgian, German and Czech styles fuelled interest in imported beer. Non-alcoholic beer and cider (+14%) continued to grow in popularity, and customers can look forward to large national brands and local craft producers launching new styles in 2026.

Seltzer-style products, which offer a low-calorie alternative, remained the most popular type of RTD. However, RTD cocktails continued to be the fastest-growing (+31%), doubling in growth since last year. Exciting new releases from local Ontario producers were popular, and this year LCBO more than doubled the number of products available from small Ontario RTD producers.

Wine

When it comes to wine, customers continued to seek out fresher styles, including lighter reds, sparklers, and light wines. With more customers choosing to consume mindfully, de-alcoholized wines continued to gain popularity (+126%). In lieu of U.S.-produced wines, Ontario wines benefited from the strong customer sentiment to support local, with VQA sales increasing by +56%, led by Ontario red VQA (+66%) and Ontario white VQA (+54%). There was also a notable increase in demand for wines from Canada (+19%), Australia (+17%), Italy (+10%) and France (+18%) — particularly red wines.

Spirits

Within spirits, customers increasingly chose Canadian and Ontario alternatives. Canadian whisky led overall growth by value, but this trend extended to other spirit categories, including vodka, rum, and liqueurs, where Canadian and Ontario options gained traction. While smaller categories, Asian whiskies continued to experience strong demand (+23%) and Irish whiskey (+2%) enjoyed steady growth. Meanwhile, consumers continued to favour smaller, convenient sizes, driving demand for bottles below 750ml.

Maryland malls and stores were just crowded on Friday, as they were in the days leading up to Christmas, with shoppers returning unwanted gifts.

Mastercard reported that holiday spending was on the rise this year, with a 3.9% percent increase from last year. But now that the holiday is over, the stores are filling up.

“Probably making some rearrangements for some things we didn’t get or maybe there was a mistake and we need to make some returns,” shopper Nathan Cabrera said.

According to a report from the National Retail Federation, 15% of all sales this year will be returned, and the retailers need to find a way to stay afloat despite that.

“Luckily I haven’t really had anything to return but that would not make me happy to have to pay a fee to return something,” shopper Tessa Taulane said.

Stores and their return policies

Some stores, like H&M, J. Crew, and Zara, are charging return shipping fees to help pay for rising shipping costs. And other stores, especially those that sell electronics, are limiting their return windows, like Apple, Target, and Best Buy.

“Especially having a baby, he’s only 18 months, it’s hard for me to get out to the store, so I always really appreciate when they have longer return windows if I do need to return something,” Taulane said.

While the idea may be for retailers to ease cost concerns, some shoppers think their policy changes could backfire.

“I think a restocking fee sucks,” Cabrera said. “That’s not something that you hear with retail and retail is already hurting right now, so I don’t know why they would want to discourage customers even more about making purchases.”

Customers say the return policy won’t deter them from buying, but they may just pay closer attention to when and where they shop.

“I don’t know if it’s fair, but it is where it is. You shop where you can shop, you return where you can return,” Taulane said.

“Maybe this is the new norm. And even if we don’t like it, eventually we will stop whining about it and just go with the punches,” Cabrera added.

Experts say if you’re thinking about making a return, make sure packages are unopened and tags are still attached.

Also hold on to your receipts, and make sure to double check the return window to avoid getting stuck with unwanted items.