{"id":35708,"date":"2011-12-06T00:30:30","date_gmt":"2011-12-06T05:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/?p=35708"},"modified":"2011-12-06T00:30:30","modified_gmt":"2011-12-06T05:30:30","slug":"lcbo-promotion-simplifies-holiday-shopping-and-entertaining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/2011\/12\/06\/lcbo-promotion-simplifies-holiday-shopping-and-entertaining\/","title":{"rendered":"LCBO PROMOTION SIMPLIFIES HOLIDAY SHOPPING AND ENTERTAINING"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LCBO\u2019s <em>\u201cHoliday Wrapped Up\u201d<\/em> promotion offers a wide range of gift packs and entertaining ideas to make holiday shopping easier. This seasonal promotion runs until December 31 in all 620 LCBO stores across Ontario.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur customers want help deciding what to buy and their holiday shopping made as simple as possible,\u201d says Bob Downey, LCBO Senior Vice President of Sales &amp; Marketing. \u201cThis promotion does that by providing a range of gift packs at different prices, highlighting top seasonal product picks and a free holiday brochure with tips on how to entertain responsibly and with ease.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>LCBO is offering more than 190 gift packs, including larger-size and limited edition bottles, and multi-bottle packs that are ready-made for entertaining and gift giving. The full selection can be found at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lcboholiday.com\/gift_guide\">www.lcboholiday.com\/gift_guide<\/a> and at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vintages.com\/giftrapt\">www.vintages.com\/giftrapt<\/a>. New gift packs this year include:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wine<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Go Local Holiday Discovery Multi-Pack (four 750 mL VQA wines from four Ontario producers) $49.95<\/li>\n<li>Woodbridge Entertaining Pack (four 750 mL bottles of Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet and Shiraz from the popular California winery) $48.95<\/li>\n<li>Veuve Clicquot Brut Shopping Bag (a 750 mL bottle with a gift bag) $65.15<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Spirits<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Smirnoff Vodka Sonic Gift Pack (limited edition 750 bottle in MP3 speaker bag) $29.95<\/li>\n<li>Skate Canadian Whisky (in an ice-skate-shaped 750 mL bottle) $49.95<\/li>\n<li>Glenmorangie Discovery Gift Set (750 ml bottle and three 50 mL sampler bottles of aged single malts from the renowned Scottish distillery) $71.95<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Beer<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Holiday Ontario Craft Brewers (OCB) Discovery Pack (six beers from different brewers) $11.95<\/li>\n<li>Belgian Exclusive Ales Six-Pack Sampler $18.95<\/li>\n<li>Unibroue17 Grand Reserve (750 mL bottle of acclaimed Quebec craft beer which is only available at LCBO this holiday season) $9.95<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Vintages<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stratus Winery Red and White VQA Icewine Gift Pack (two 200 mL bottles) $79.95<\/li>\n<li>Mike Weir 2009 Gift Pack (750 mL bottles of Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc with Golfer\u2019s Shoe Bag) $39.95<\/li>\n<li>Zuccardi Series A Gift Pack (Two 750 mL bottles of Malbec and Syrah with olive oil) $39.95<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cOne way to make holiday shopping and entertaining simple and support our domestic producers is to go local,\u201d notes Downey. \u201cOur large range of Ontario VQA wines, local craft beers and Canadian whiskies and spirits makes it easy to celebrate the season with a national flavor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Are you looking for some\u00a0 unique products or do you need some advice on holiday entertaining?\u00a0<\/strong> Find a range of products recommended for holiday entertaining by LCBO\u2019s experts at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lcboholiday.com\/expert_picks\">www.lcboholiday.com\/expert_picks<\/a> and a free holiday brochure called \u201c<em>12 ways to an easy holiday<\/em>\u201d is also available in larger LCBO stores. Visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lcboholiday.com\/drinks\">www.lcboholiday.com\/drinks<\/a> for festive drinks and\u00a0 \u00a0holiday entertaining ideas. The Vintages Gift Finder at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vintages.com\/gifts\">www.vintages.com\/gifts<\/a> is a mobile-friendly site that also provides gifting solutions for hard to buy for people.<\/p>\n<p>LCBO also offers gift cards at its stores and at all Shoppers Drug Mart and select Longos locations.\u00a0 In December 2010, LCBO gift card sales rose more than 25 per cent to $19.8 million, up from $15.8 million in December 2009.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LCBO Facts<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;\u00a0 In 2010, sales of Champagnes and sparkling wines increased to $22.5 million in December from $4.6 million in October. \u00a0The holiday period accounts for 30 to 35 per cent of annual LCBO Champagne and sparkling wine sales. Last year, liqueurs rose to $41 million in December from $15 million in October. December accounts for 28 per cent of annual sales of classic liqueurs (e.g. Baileys, Grand Marnier).<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;\u00a0 Twenty-five per cent of LCBO Cognac sales and more than 15 per cent of whisky sales occur in December. \u00a0Spiced rum is also expected to be a holiday favourite with sales growth up 30 per cent leading into December. Sales of fine wines and premium spirits in LCBO Vintages\u2019 sections also typically see double-digit growth in December.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;\u00a0 Last December, LCBO sales topped $600 million or almost 15 per cent of the year\u2019s business.\u00a0 The average per person transaction in December 2010 was $48 versus $36 the rest of the year.\u00a0 Last year, December 23 was the biggest selling day ($48 million) and December 24 was next ($42 million).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDeflate the Elephant\u201d, LCBO\u2019s social responsibility public information campaign, will again hit the web, airwaves, street and LCBO stores to promote safe and enjoyable celebrations this holiday season. Consumers can visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.deflatetheelephant.com\/\">www.deflatetheelephant.com<\/a> for a one-stop source for responsible hosting solutions and more than 50 non-alcoholic mocktail recipes.<\/p>\n<p>For more information on the \u201c<em>Holiday Wrapped Up\u201d <\/em>promotion, entertaining ideas and responsible hosting tips, customers can call helloLCBO (formerly LCBO Contact Centre) at 1-800-ONT-LCBO (668-5226). \u00a0In Toronto, call 416 365-5900, visit your nearest LCBO store or go online to hellolcbo.com. The TTY number for people who are deaf or hard of hearing is 416 864-6898 or 1-800-361-3291. Customers can also access the LCBO website at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lcbo.com\/\">www.lcbo.com<\/a> and Vintages information at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vintages.com\/\">www.vintages.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Liz Palmer, Wine Writer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LCBO\u2019s \u201cHoliday Wrapped Up\u201d promotion offers a wide range of gift packs and entertaining ideas to make holiday shopping easier. This seasonal promotion runs until December 31 in all 620 LCBO stores across Ontario. \u201cOur customers want help deciding what to buy and their holiday shopping made as simple as&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35708\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}