Australian Liquor Marketers is the liquor arm of

Metcash Metcash Trading () is an Australian conglomerate company headquartered in Wooloomooloo, NSW. Metcash is a distributing and marketing support in supermarket groceries, perishables, fresh produce, alcoholic beverages, hardware, and other consume ...

. It distributes liquor to businesses around

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, and runs a franchise of almost 2900 liquor stores operating as The Bottle-O, Cellarbrations, IGA Liquor, Duncans, Thirsty Camel, Big Bargain, Porters and Merchants Liquor. The company has 13 distribution centres across every state and territory of Australia, and a distribution centre in New Zealand. It is Australia's largest supplier of liquor to independently owned liquor retailers and largest broad-range liquor wholesaler, supplying to 12,000 liquor customers.

Independent Brands Australia

Independent Brands Australia is the second-largest network of liquor retail outlets in Australia. It has about 2,700 stores operating as Cellarbrations, The Bottle O,

IGA liquor Iga may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Ambush at Iga Pass, a 1958 Japanese film * Iga no Kagemaru, Japanese manga series * Iga, a set of characters from the Japanese novel '' The Kouga Ninja Scrolls'' Biology * ''Iga'' (beetle), a ge ...

, Duncan's Liquor,

Thirsty Camel Thirst is the craving for potable fluids, resulting in the basic instinct of animals to drink. It is an essential mechanism involved in fluid balance. It arises from a lack of fluids or an increase in the concentration of certain osmolites, su ...

, Big Bargain Liquor and Porter's Liquor.

Tasman Liquor Company

Tasman Liquor Company is based in

Wiri, Auckland Wiri is a mostly industrial-commercial focused suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. It was formerly part of Manukau City until the merger of all of Auckland's councils into the ' super city' in 2010. The area was named after the chief Takaanini ...

. It has 114 franchisees around New Zealand operating as The Bottle O and Merchants Liquor, including 36 in the

Auckland Region Auckland () is one of the sixteen regions of New Zealand, which takes its name from the eponymous urban area. The region encompasses the Auckland Metropolitan Area, smaller towns, rural areas, and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Containing ...

History

In 2020 the company was accused of failing to address migrant worker exploitation by its franchises. One former owner of 12 stores failed 19

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE; mi, Hīkina Whakatutuki) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with "delivering policy, services, advice and regulation" which contribute to New Zealand's economic p ...

inspections; one former worker accused him of "modern day slavery". Tasman Liquor said it did not support the practices, and would comply with authorities.

Liquor Centre

Liquor Centre is a New Zealand liquor franchiser founded in 1992. It claims to be the largest liquor store network in New Zealand, with 240 stores around the country. There are 175 Liquor Centre stores and 41 Liquor Spot stores listed on the company's website. The remaining stores are part of the buying network but do not have branding. Within the Auckland region there are 71 branded stores, including 41 Liquor Centre stores an 29 Liquor Spot stores. Tasman Liquor Company supplies liquor to stores in the Liquor Centre network.

purchased the franchise itself in June 2020, one of a group of acquisitions it was making at the time. Metcash told shareholders the purchase was a "bolt-on" acquisition to add to its existing liquor portfolio, significantly expanding its retail network in New Zealand.

History

In 2019, the owners of the

Grafton, Auckland Grafton is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is named for the Duke of Grafton, a patron of the first Governor of New Zealand, William Hobson, and the grandfather of a subsequent Governor, Robert FitzRoy. Once known as 'Grafton Heigh ...

Liquor Spot store were ordered to pay almost NZ$200,000 in penalties and arrears to staff for breaches of labour laws. In November 2020, the

secured a freezing order to stop the owners of four

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runawa ...

stores from selling stores while it sought penalties for serious breaches to labour laws. In March 2021, the

Royal Oak, Auckland Royal Oak is a small suburb in New Zealand's largest city of Auckland. It is situated between the suburbs of Epsom (north) and Onehunga (south). Royal Oak is under the local governance of the Auckland Council. History It is named after the Ro ...

store joined

UberEats Uber Eats is an online food ordering and delivery platform launched by Uber in 2014. Meals are delivered by couriers using cars, scooters, bikes, or on foot. It is operational in over 6,000 cities across 45 countries as of 2021. The process of ...

in a trial of alcohol delivery.

References

{{Supermarkets in New Zealand Alcohol distribution retailers in Australia Alcohol distribution retailers in New Zealand