Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The Best Liquor Store in Edmonton

I realize I am inviting a hailstorm of pissed-offedness upon myself but I don't care. City Centre Liquor Store, located close to Eddie Bauer in the east portion of Edmonton City Centre Mall, is the best liquor store in the city. Hands down. Without a doubt. Probably. Why? Customer service, you monkeys.

CCLS is run by what appears to be a husband and wife or possibly a sister and brother. They are the White Stripes of downtown business owners. I don't know them very well, but they have gotten into no fewer than one dozen awkwardly public spats (in my presence) in the three or so years I have been going to this establishment. They fight about which rum is better, about what kind of noodle goes better with pinot noir, about who is going to bag and who is going to enter the credit card information. One time, the wife/sister got so angry that she fled the retail space for the relative calm of the stock room, slamming the door behind her. I believe that fight was about who gets to pour samples of spirits.

The point is, these people care about their business and their customers. No, they don't have a giant wine selection like deVine Wines; no, they don't have more than 600 beers, like Sherbrooke Liquor Store; and no, they don't have an Enomatic wine dispenser like Vinomania. What they do have is time - the time to tell you about each and every bottle of tequila in the store, from cheap panty-remover gutter swill like Jose Cuervo, to the hand-blown Italian glass bottles of something so expensive I can't even remember what it is called. They have the time to ask what you like, what you plan to serve with your chosen bottle, and what your price range is. They have even hired a new staff member who is equally diligent in ensuring you go home with something you will enjoy; he seems to spend a lot of time labeling bottles with a price gun, but as soon as you stop to look at something, he's on it, dropping science on motherfuckers about distillation processes and American versus French oak. Knowledge is a powerful thing: I always walk out with more than I intended to buy.

So get on board with the downtown revival. Buy your liquor during your lunch break at CCLS - hell, have some during the afternoon. It'll make your day more pleasant. Or at least, more spinny.

1 comment:

  1. Since it is called the best liquor store, i have something to ask, do they have an RSA?
    It is nice for a liquor store to have an RSA to prevent from liquor abusing. RSA is very important especially in that kind of business, like mine, I have a small business of wine, I joined a training on rsa online, now, I managed the store very well.

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