NSLC Removing Russian Vodka From Shelves
Halifax – The Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation is removing all Russian-made vodka from its shelves, as of February 25. The move comes as leaders around the world levy economic sanctions against Russia for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
“Pulling Russian products from our shelves is the right thing to do,” said NSLC spokesperson Beverley Ware. “We did not hesitate in making this decision.”
“We’re notifying the stores today. We’re calling up all our stores this afternoon and telling them to pull this product.”
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The NSLC was selling three types of Russian Standard vodka, ranging from $28.49-$41.99 in price. Since April 1, 2021, the corporation sold $783,000 worth of Russian Standard.
But that doesn’t mean vodka lovers will have to go without. The NSLC still stocks vodkas made from other countries, like the popular Absolut line made in Sweden. There’s even a vodka called “Russian Prince” which, despite its name, is produced in Canada.
The call for provinces to drop Russian vodka from liquor stores gained a lot of steam online Friday. According to cp24.com, the Ontario Liberals have called for the LCBO to remove such products from their shelves.
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].
June 25, 2022 @ 9:20 pm
I can certainly understand moving against restocking Russian products, but this seems foolish to me. The products being removed from shelves have already been paid for by the retailers, so this doesn’t stop a cent from going to Russia. As far as the symbolic gesture goes, I would have recommended denaturing them, and selling them as hand sanitizer or the like. In this case, where the NSLC is directly crediting retailers for disposing of it, it just seems like a gross waste of public funds at the worst possible time.