Private Wine Store Series: Metro Liquor at Tuscany Village

Interior of Tuscany Village. Photos by Deanna Ladret

VICTORIA

Though it’s doubtful anyone will ever mistake a photo of Victoria’s Tuscany Village for a villaggio in Italy there’s no mistaking the Shelbourne and McKenzie development’s abundance of food and drink purveyors. One standout shop is the BC-owned Metro Liquor store, where over two thousand different wines, beers, and spirits from every corner of the globe line the aisles, and spill out (figuratively) onto virtually every horizontal surface.

The store boasts a broad range of products, from high-end to budget-friendly and everything/everywhere in between. This includes a wall of fridges devoted to chilled wines and beers, and a splendid selection of specialty beers, wines, and spirits not typically available from government stores. For highlights from their product inventory, check the easy to navigate Metro website. A couple of added perks for repeat customers include the Metro Points Program (collect points to receive discounts on future purchases) and a Weekly Wine Picks newsletter that offers previews of new products and advance information about in-store tastings.

Metro Liquor Operations Manager and Portfolio Director Larry Arnold

Metro Liquor Operations Manager and Portfolio Director Larry Arnold calls the Tuscany Village store home base. When he’s not there, he’s likely busy at the company’s other three locations––University Heights Mall, Brentwood Bay and Kelowna––or involved in a variety of other wine related enterprises, such as judging wine competitions and writing for EAT Magazine. Arnold has decades of varied experience in the wine world, his career beginning with a job stocking shelves at a Liquor Distribution Board store in the early 1980’s. After a few years of experience and some LDB vocational courses, he went on to sit on the board’s Listing Panel for nearly ten years, where he tasted upwards of 2000 different wines every year (rough gig). It seems all those years of exhausting research have paid off. With Arnold at the helm of this something-for-everyone store, shoppers are guaranteed a satisfying sip.

Name: Metro Liquor Stores

The selection of specialty beers

Address, Phone & Hours:

Tuscany Village

101-1660 McKenzie Avenue (Across from Thrifty Foods)

Phone: (250) 384-9463

Hours: Seven days per week from 9:00 am to 11:00 pm

Brentwood Bay

            100-7143 West Saanich Road

Phone: (250) 544-2003

Hours: Seven days per week from 9:30 am to 11:00 pm

University Heights Mall

4-3960 Shelbourne Street (Next to Safeway)

Phone: (250) 382-2814

Hours: Seven days per week from 9:00 am to 11:00 pm

Kelowna

Cultural District

1175 Ellis Street at Clement Avenue (next to Train Station Pub)

Phone: (778) 484-5656

Hours: Seven days per week from 10:00 am to 11:00 pm

Website: www.metroliquor.com

Parking: yes

Delivery: large orders within Victoria are considered on per-case basis.

Employees: 11 at Tuscany Village

Manager: Brianna Kirby

Wine Buyer/Consultant: Larry Arnold, Operations Manager & Portfolio Director

# SKUS: 2501

Store Focus/Specialty: full range of products, including specialty wines, spirits and beers.

Public Tastings: yes

Membership/Loyalty program: yes, sign up online

Newsletter: yes, sign up online

Previous Private Wine Stores features in this ongoing series:

Vintage Spirits

Cascadia Liquor Stores

Cook Street Village Liquor