From the Editor

The Retail Race

By David Halpert

Ilive in Toronto, North York specifically, which as its name implies is a northern borough of the city, close to the eastern border shared with Scarborough. If you know anything about the Big Smoke geographically, my high-rise apartment is situated right near where the Don Valley Parkway (DVP) and Highway 401 meet, the former the vertical artery that links the downtown core; the latter, an eastwest interstate that links much of the Golden Horseshoe, making this area in particular one of the busiest vehicular conduits in Canada, arguably the biggest.

This makes the area prime real estate for cannabis retail. Over the last one to two years there has been a slew of new cannabis retailers opening up in my area. To give you an idea of how saturated this area has become I’ll give you a breakdown of the numbers within a three kilometre radius of my apartment (no joke!). First, the upscale Shops at Don Mills located in midtown has both a Tokyo Smoke and a Spiritleaf franchised outlet. Fairview Mall, accessible from the DVP, just opened a FIKA Cannabis outlet (and according to Google Maps, an independent store called The 6ix Dispensary has also opened up at a commercial building along Fairview Mall Drive). Then you have Canna-Cabana roughly five minutes away to the east at Victoria Park and Ellesmere, followed by a Kanab Cannabis to the west at Don Mills and York Mills. I also came home last week to a flyer on my apartment door for ‘The Cannabis Hut’ again opening at Victoria Park just north of Lawrence Avenue. Keep in mind, I’m also being generous with this list and not including any dispensaries along Eglinton Avenue and Lawrence Avenue either, which if that radius was extended to five kilometres would include five more locations. For the cannabis retail community, spring 2022 is going to be a watershed season in many respects, offering more opportunities for independent cannabis retailers to compete. In Alberta, as of early March, licensed cannabis retailers will have the opportunity to sell cannabis online and provide delivery permanently in both cases. The Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission is also exiting its own online cannabis sales as per amendments made to the Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act. With the provincial government for online sales effectively shutdown, independent stores will be allowed to operate their own e-commerce stores provided they have an existing brick-and-mortar store(s). For many this is a double-edged sword as smaller independents won’t have the resources (or possibly investment dollars) to create their own e-commerce platforms. While there will be initial growing pains at the onset, I do believe this will prove to be another way for cannabis retailers to compete. Similarly, following in lockstep, as of last month Ontario cannabis stores can offer delivery and curbside pickup on a permanent basis. While its too soon to tell whether other provincial jurisdictions will follow suit, Ontario and other provincial jurisdictions will surely be looking toward Alberta as a case study of sorts. Hopefully, this will lead to greater competitiveness overall and a more levelled playing field amidst private retailers.

President / CEO, Straight Dope Media Inc.

@cannabispromag

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