All LCBO stores across the province will be shut down for the next 14 days, as a result of workers going on strike, and it'll have an impact on local distilleries.
After two weeks, only 30 of the 669 LCBO stores will open for in-store shopping, and the stores will operate Friday, Saturday and Sunday with limited hours in effect.
In advance of the strike, the LCBO said it would continue to fulfill wholesale orders and accept orders for free home delivery on its website and mobile app.
There's going to be a big local impact, as distilleries rely quite a bit on the LCBO.
Danielle Moldovan, Director of Marketing and New Business at Wolfhead Distillery, says in terms of their sales at the LCBO it will have a huge impact of lost revenue.
"We also have a restaurant at the distillery, so it'll be challenging for us if we bring any other spirits like a tequila or rum that we don't make to have stocked at our restaurant. It'll also be difficult for other restaurants that carry our products to have our products in, so just all around the board it has a lot of challenges," she said.
Despite the challenges, it's not all bad news as Moldovan says they will be able to sell out of their retail stores.
"So that is a positive, it's just a matter where people are coming from. We will be fully operational for restaurants to get the products that they might want, if they're looking for a new whiskey, vodka, or gin we can help them there, or the regular products they carry for our distillery."
She says customers and restaurants will still be able to purchase things from Wolfhead, but overall it's still going to amount to a big loss in revenue from LCBO sales.
"Because just with our distillery we're in about 200 LCBO's of 630 across Ontario. There's some products that customers are used to getting where they might switch to something else if they can't find their Wolfhead right? So potentially we could not only lose sales but also lose a customer who then gets turned on to something else," she said.
The strike is the first in the LCBO's history.
Moldovan says they've been planning for what to do if a strike happens, but were waiting for the official word before figuring out what their plan of attack is going to be.