It’s been half a week since weed became legal in Canada and judging from the lineups outside the stores on Saturday afternoon, it doesn’t look like demand is slowing down.
People hanging out in their Saturday best getting a little dust blown in their eyes from the gusts in the city were mostly smiling and talking to each other, and the lineups for a lot of the stores snaked around the buildings.
Nova Cannabis at Namao, at 16616 95 St., had a DJ pumping out tunes, handing out free water and coffee as well as a sign-up form for the store’s newsletter.
Ricardao Torres is visiting from Mexico and this is his first time in line.
“I’m seeing how this is going … this is my first time … I hope it’s worth the wait,” said Torres with a laugh.
The line was long but everyone seemed to be in a great mood.
“We’re running at full capacity from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at each of our stores. We’re at full speed now and we appreciate everyone’s patience. Everyone is in a good mood and that gets infectious,” said James Burns, CEO of Alcanna, which owns Nova Cannabis.
While demand is high, Burns isn’t worried about supply.
“We’ve run out of some products, but we’re OK … we’re excited to be a part of it,” Burns said.
Fire & Flower Cannabis Co., at 9610 165 Ave. NW, had a very similar around-the-store lineup.
“We expected it to be really busy and expected certain products to be sold out, we are so happy to be accepted by the community,” said Amy Stevens, lead for government and stakeholder relations for Fire & Flower.
“The stores have been really busy from open to close with a line around the building in all three of our Alberta locations. We had to cut the line off before we close,” said Stevens.
Brandon Frick, vice-president of Daily Blaze in Stony Plain, says he’s had lines around his store since it opened on Wednesday.
“My last customer just walked out the door,” Frick said Saturday evening as he closed his doors around 5:30 p.m. after selling out most of his stock. He said he’s waiting for his restock shipment to come in. “Anything that has THC in it has been sold.”
When asked how he’s handling the demand with only one staff member right now, “she manages our other business, Young Guns paintball. She’s used to this kind of busy all the time,” Frick said.
At the back of the line over at Fire & Flower was Joleene Bakermans and Mike Wasmund, standing in the warm sun, both in the line for the first time since weed went legal on Wednesday.
“I think it’s a good idea, I think they should have done it a long time ago,” said Wasmund.
Bakermans agreed. “It’s should have been done a long time ago. It’s a plant,” she said with a laugh.
There were a lot of smiles in the lines, whether people were coming out or going into the stores.
“We don’t want people to feel like they’re being herded like cattle, we want them to know we’re here if they want it or need it,” said Stevens.
Credit: edmontonjournal.com
