It is not a duty-free shop so it will allow travelers coming and going to purchase product. “We are pleased to be opening Liquid Assets at Halifax Stanfield,” say Lynne MacKay and Pierre Guevremont, Liquid Assets owners. “Our new store will feature only Nova Scotia produced wines, spirits, beers and ciders and will be the first store of its kind in an airport. Our location will provide travellers the opportunity to purchase excellent quality products to take with them as a memento of Nova Scotia or share as a gift.”
A bit of history on how this came to be was the NSLC were approached by HSIA about putting a wine and spirits store in, post security, last spring. The NSLC would not providing them with authority to open up the equivalent of an HSIA Private store (like Bishops Cellar for example), but that the NSLC could get on board with a NS products store because/if:
1. Supporting the local craft alcohol industry is part of their legislated mandate;
2. Supporting local industry in the retail environment is one of three pillars of the five year strategic plan;
3. If the company selected was a NS entity that the NSLC has a pre-existing regulatory relationship with;
4. The store had to be post-security so that the focus is truly on providing brand exposure for local products to consumers from other parts of Canada and internationally and not to serving the general public.
NSLC will treat the permit as an extension of Ironworks current retail store, but this is not an "Ironworks" store, most likely they will treat it as a manufacturers who sells at Farmer’s Markets. The fact that the store is in a regulated and highly secure area that also happens to be one of, if not the top tourism assets from a flow of people perspective, was also a consideration. It also lines up with other Government priorities (leveraging tourism assets to promote NS products). As Heather MacDougall from the NSLC says on this partnership "All in all, a win-win".
