Cooler sales on the rise
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Mar 14/01) - People are drinking more in smaller communities and less in Yellowknife.
According to recently released NWT Liquor Board statistics for the year ending March 31, 2000 sales were up in every community with a liquor store except the capital.
| Yellowknife liquor licences
Inspections from April 1 1999 to March 31 2000: 694 inspector, 3,900 RCMP SOURCE: Northwest Territories Liquor Commission |
But Nunavut's takeover of some of its own liquor sales contributed to the drop in Yellowknife sales and also to a 6.3 per cent drop in total NWT sales, said NWT Liquor Commission general manager Ron Courtoreille.
In 1999 8.4 per cent of total sales of $31.6 million were made through Iqaluit.
The biggest jump in sales in the five other communities with liquor stores came in Inuvik, where sales jumped to $5.4 million from $4.8 million in 1999.
Coolers were a big hit in the NWT -- sales of the sweet but potent beverages were up 24.9 per cent.
Consumer purchases accounted for 72 per cent of total sales, with licensees such as bars and restaurants making up the remainder.
Despite the North's reputation as a haven for heavy drinkers, in 1999 the Northwest Territories and Nunavut ranked seventh among territories and provinces in per capita consumption of alcohol. According to Statistics Canada, on average, those 15 years and older (hopefully most of them at least 19 years old) drank 95.9 litres of spirits wine and beer during 1999.
During the same year, Yukoners did their part to perpetuate the North's drinking reputation, topping all other jurisdictions by a wide margin. Per capita Yukoners drank 173.8 litres through the year, almost double the consumption of Canada's most sober jurisdiction, Saskatchewan.
