The LCBO—Liquor Control Board of Ontario—may be a provincial government enterprise, but it is also synonymous with social joy. Its new stores are an inclusive place for authentic engagements: to stop by before heading to a gathering, to meet friends, to try and learn about diverse products, and to imagine new possibilities for entertaining guests. As one of the world’s largest buyers and retailers of alcoholic beverages, the LCBO brand promises quality, craftsmanship, and convenience. Since 2010, II BY IV DESIGN has worked closely with the LCBO team to develop the vision for the store roll-out in various neighbourhoods across Canada’s most populous province.
The design strategy for each store has been informed by its context and demographics with a common thread of being decidedly customer-centric. It turns each location into a retail theatre. For LCBO’s official flagship store, the curated customer journey takes place in a double-height single-floor layout with over 4,000 local and international products. Combining four stores in over 24,000 square feet, this waterfront store has the largest vintages selection in the entire 670-store network, conveniently anchoring the building that houses the new LCBO headquarters in the growing Sugar Wharf neighbourhood of Toronto’s lake-side downtown.
Photography by David Whittaker and Wilson Costa.
