Aligra Wine & Spirits West Edmonton Mall

Alison Phillips and Grant Schneider, owners of Aligra Wine & Spirits, came to Edmonton from Vancouver with a sense of adventure and a zest to turn around a struggling liquor store in West Edmonton Mall. Originally asked to write a business plan to sell the store, Grant became quite interested in it himself after doing some investigation. They put in an offer to purchase the business, and the rest is history.

"We were the Beverly Hillbillies — sold everything, put it all in the car, moved here, lived in the Holiday Inn up the road for about two weeks while we renovated and opened the store on July 1, 2007," says Alison. The two partners put in some serious elbow-grease for about one month and worked, “seven days a week for the first two years.”

Not content to be just any typical wine store, Aligra Wine & Spirits has the largest selection of British Columbian wines in Alberta and the largest tequila collection in the city. It also carries a wide assortment of Scotches and specializes in bringing in ethnic spirits such as Yeni Raki, a Turkish drink and Danish aquivat.

Alison and Grant’s hard work and vision paid off in 2009 when they won the Edmonton and Area Liquor Retailer of the Year. Not bad for a so-called ‘new-kid-on-the-block.'