Broadway Liquor Store

This liquor store saved my life. For the last 3 years that I have lived in the neighbourhood, this store has provided excellent advice on craft beers and wines time after time. It didn’t take much time at all for me to become a regular– this place has helped me celebrate, mourn, laugh, and think. Not only because of the staffs extensive knowledge on the stores selection, but because I’ve never felt the same or worse walking out than when I walked in.
If you are an open person who understands that humans like you operate liquor stores, then you will love this place. If you walk in as if no one else exists, then you deserve whatever you are perceiving as «bad service» and frankly– you’re never going to be satisfied.
It is as simple as walking in, saying hello and responding truthfully about your day when asked. If you do that, then I have no doubt that you’ll find yourself coming back for years later because:
a. it opens and closes consistently at the same hours every day (yes to 11pm– yes even sundays)
b. if you have a dog –they have treats!
c. its better priced than the other private stores in the area
d. they regularly update awesome selection
e. its supportive informative staff
f. of its creative sandwich boards!
g. they got accessories for special occasions where you need to last minute wrap your nice bottle of wine or champagne in a fancy bag
h. of their random tasting events
i. of its location
j. of its parking
k. of the fact that you can walk in crying
l. of the fact you can walk in laughing
m. you can walk into toys r us with your purchases and feel like a bad ass adult no matter how old you are
n.you can win prizes
o. if you’re lucky you’ll get free swag every so often
p. you can use their bathroom
q. the store is well organized
r. if you are in the middle of an important sports game– you won’t miss it at this store
s. they don’t seem to play bad music ever
t. their plastic bags actually make really amazing trash liners
u. they got ice!
v. you’re hot and want to chill out in the beer room/​its raining and you need to take refuge.
w. you haven’t heard your voice all day and need to rant about something, anything really.
x. you want to hear a good story
y. this is my favourite liquor store in Vancouver
z. you’re an alcoholic?
And thats my A-​Z on why Broadway Liquor rules.

Well. first of all, yes, the place is expensive, but it is close by and if I don’t mind spending and extra few bucks [as opposed to driving to Broadway and Maple or 41^st and Cambie], then I’ll drop in for a bottle of wine or beer. but I do wince at the prices.
I’ve found most of the staff friendly folks and I wouldn’t say this here except for the fact that I was unable to locate an actual web page for the store itself; there is a young man working there who, while capable, quick and polite, really needs to get some basic grooming and hygiene skills. It is NOT appropriate to be rubbing your hands all over your face, in your mouth, in your eyes, in your nose, in your hair, over and over and over, whilst serving members of the public; it is not considered healthy to be rubbing your mucous membranes with your fingers, you are not only picking up every germ on everything around you, but you are also spreading those germs to everything you touch. I don’t know if this young man has a healthy issue that makes him behave this way, or weather it is due to inappropriate drug use, but he really needs to learn to keep his hands away from his face!

The selection of wine is terrible and way over priced. I bought a 6 pack of local craft beer and paid $ 2 more for a six pack compared to brewery creek on Main Street. When u politely mentioned pricing concerns to the cashier he immediately became rude and defensive. I really hope another store opens up in the area and gives them a run for their money. Maybe Liberty will open up in the hood?
Imagine paying $ 30 for a bottle of yellow tail? You will at this place if you are stupid enough to go there and pay this stupid price.
I won t ever be back to this store.

It’s funny how people react to mediocre options and second-​rate service when it comes to the purchasing of necessities. While the majority of the reviews here are negative, and I can attest to the butt-​licking attributes of this hooch hutch, everyone pulls their punches because Broadway Liquor Store carries sweet sweet alcohol. People are pretty forgiving when it comes to the water of life. Complete with hand-​written construction paper signs and cantankerous clerks, Broadway Liquor Store represents everything that is wrong with privatized liquor stores (and two-​tier systems in general… but that is for another review). That is, there are no customer service standards, the ambiance is balls, and the inventory is inconsistent. Having said this, they sell cold beer and rotgut.
While this shop is overpriced and demoralizing, I actually had a good experience last time I went there. I was in the walk-​in cooler and an unkempt salesperson came in to ask if I needed help. I didn’t really, because I knew what I wanted, but I asked an impulsive question about an R&B ale I hadn’t seen before. The clerk was surprisingly informative and really polite, unlike the dude at the till. I still resented paying an extra $ 1.80 for a bottle of beer, and swore upon the gleaming Plow of Gefion that I would not shop there again after paying, but Broadway Liquor Store is about on par with most private liquor stores in Vancouver.

Broadway liquor store is about what you would expect for a private liquor store in BC. As per usual, the cost of all liquor here is higher than at a province run liquor store. Generally, on 750 mL of liquor or a 6 pack of beer, you’re looking at $ 1 – 2 more. Wine, on the other hand is all over the map, being anywhere from $ 1 – 8 more a bottle.
The selection is decent for wine (many countries of origin) and beer (many microbrews). Being a private liquor store, many of the beers and wines are chilled and ready to go. The selection of hard alcohol is a little on the sparse side though.
The staff are few (usually just a cashier) and are simply ok. They usually just sit at the cash register and don’t really know much about their products if you ask for a recommendation or whether they carry something or not. On that note, there’s no special prices, deals or hard to find products at this liquor store in comparison to both other private liquor stores or other province run liquor stores.
If you’re by Broadway liquor store and want to pick up something, it’s as good as any in the near area, but it’s not a store I would go out of my way to get to.

As far as liquor stores go, there is much better (and worse) out there. They have a decent selection of beer (particularly microbrews), most of which is chilled. Their wine and hard alcohol selection seems to be lacking, to say the least. The alcohol here is more expensive than other places, but you’re paying for the location.
The staff are alright. They don’t really pack the alcohol that well after you purchase it, which makes it awkward to carry home. One employee gave me a beer recommendation out of nowhere, which was appreciated since I know practically nothing about beer. If anything, the staff seems to be hit or miss in terms of friendliness.
This liquor store is within walking distance for me, so I’ll probably go here again because it’s so convenient.

For such a BIG store, the selection here is total balls. This is the third time I went in thinking I could find a semi-​basic liqueur since the huge storefront implies that they may actually stock a few things more than the smaller private stores, but nope. The place looks like someone once heard of something called a «merchandise display» from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from someone that looked in a store window once, and they decided to dedicate half the store to piles of random beer boxes rather than actually having some different items to choose from.
I came in looking for absinthe one evening (nope, none) and today I was looking for butter ripple schnapps (also, no.) I’ve been in looking for some wine, and asked advice on their stock, but no one working seemed to know a thing about the wine they carried. This place might as well be a dusty beer store attached to a truck stop, don’t expect anything more than you’d expect 20 minutes after you leave town on a road trip and suddenly realize you forgot the booze.

Wow, what an awful store full of highly OVERPRICED swill.
Honestly, I haven’t had this much trouble getting a drink since I was in Utah. Was unaware that Vancouver doesn’t sell wine, beer (or any alcohol) in Whole Foods or comparable grocery.
I saw crappy Yellow Tail wine that goes for $ 5-​$ 10 a bottle down in the States going for $ 30 in this store! You’ve got to be kidding me! I can buy Yellow Tail in Mall-​Wort in California or Nevada.
Likewise, their beer was equally ridiculously overpriced.
They had two cashiers standing at their registers (this right before Halloween) and the place was dead, dead and empty. Gee, I wonder why?
I settled for a Mike’s Hard Lemonade which I paid a whopping 6 bucks for. It tasted like Kool-​Aide.
NEVER shop here. There’s another liquor store on the opposite side of W. Broadway a little closer to Camby that is way, way better. Better selection, prices, everything.

The beer selection is good and getting better lots of BC micro breweries. The wine selection has not improved since it opened about 1 year ago, I have been holding off this review to see if things got better, they haven’t. So if you’re after beer drop in for wine head elsewhere.

It’s always a happy day when a new liquor store opens that is a closer walk to your front door. I had high hopes for Broadway Liquor Store and I went in to check out their selection and prices.
It is a fair-​sized shop and very bright and clean since it’s so new. There is a fridge with a small selection of mixers, limes by the till, a big selection of cold beer and half the room is wine. Unfortunately, most of the wines are ordinary table wines. It’s not a great place to go if you’re entertaining or taking a bottle as a gift to a dinner party.
The prices are often $ 3 – 4 higher than the government liquor store and $ 1 – 2 higher than other cold beer and wine or specialty wine stores. I will only be shopping there when I need to run out quickly for more beer or when I’m too lazy to carry a heavy case of brew.
They won’t carry hard liquor for their first year in business, so don’t go there looking for a bottle of scotch.