Two P.E.I. liquor stores saw a drop in sales last year.
Sales at the Wellington liquor store dropped by more than $7,000 while sales in Wood Islands fell by more than $2,200.
Brooke MacMillan, CEO of the Liquor Control Commission, says trends with liquor store sales reflect trends in Prince Edward Island population. He said more people are moving to urban areas and more liquor is being sold at urban liquor stores.
Sales at stores in Charlottetown were up by nearly $1.7 million while sales at stores in Summerside increased by more than half-million dollars.
Sales were also up a half-million dollars in Stratford and Cornwall.
"If you see where we're seeing most of our growth, we're seeing it in Cornwall, you're seeing it in Stratford," MacMillan told The Guardian.
"It's people moving to larger urban centres. You can see it in the sales here."
Charlottetown's Oak Tree Place store is still the largest grossing store in Prince Edward Island
with sales this year of $14.2 million. That's an increase of $860,000.
The new store in West Royalty, in the Sears mall, had $11.5 million in sales. That's an increase of $560,000.
Wood Islands is the least profitable store with sales last year of $540,000, down more than $2,200.
MacMillan said the Wood Islands store was closed a month earlier than normal last year because of poor sales.
It is the province's only seasonal liquor store.
"If you were there working from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. they were seeing 18 to 19 customers a day," he said.
"We're in a situation where you have to employ two people. You always have to have two people on staff."
So is the Wood Islands liquor store still viable?
"The infrastructure is there," he said.
Total sales for the year ending March 31, 2009 totaled $85.1 million.
Canned beer, beers of the world and an increased wine selection is being credited for increased sales, so too is Sunday shopping.
"When Sunday shopping came in you could see the bump in the sales."
Rum is still the top spirit.
Captain Morgan is by far the most popular rum, something that bucks the national trend.
Islanders drink six times more Captain Morgan per capita than drinkers in other provinces.
White wine is the top grossing wine.
Sales of coolers declined in 2009, mainly due to the colder summer.
But the top-grossing product by far is beer, which represents about 50 per cent of all liquor store sales.
The Liquor Control Commission is planning to continue to renovate its liquor stores, and continue to expand its product line, which should lead to more sales.
The commission is planning a major upgrade at its flagship store, Oak Tree Place. It hasn't been updated for nearly 10 years.
A new store is now being built in Stratford.
"If things work out, we'll be awful close to $90 million in sales next year.
