(Tyler Marr/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Tyler Marr

Budding industry

Majority of Sask. cannabis shops open 1 year after legalization

Oct 17, 2019 | 9:02 AM

When marijuana was legalized in October 2018, only seven of the 51 licensed stores across Saskatchewan were open and ready for business.

One year later, there are 39 cannabis retail stores in operation province-wide.

That includes the last one of six allowed cannabis shops in Regina, Fire & Flower, which plans to open Friday.

The company acquired the license from Mera Cannabis Corp, formerly Avana Canada Inc., which initially planned to open a shop on the Scarth Street Mall in downtown Regina.

A company spokesperson said it took the full year to open the store because of the planning behind confirming a suitable location, design and financing along with building permits and inspections.

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Other stores to open over the last month include 5Buds in Yorkton, The Green Box in Unity and the second of two shops in Swift Current, Sweet Tree.

Weyburn is still waiting for its first pot shop, a point not lost on the city’s mayor, who’s frustrated by that. Two stores are coming but they’re still going through the process with no definitive opening date. One license holder withdrew from the process and it’s now gone to the runner-up. The second license holder, Compass Cannabis, said in an email that it has received an extension with SLGA for its application.

“We have a location with municipal zoning ready to go as soon as we have the green light,” said Dave Martyn, president of Compass Cannabis.

As of Oct. 16, there were 12 stores still going through the permitting process. They include one in La Loche, Lloydminster, Nipawin, Saskatoon and Weyburn (Compass Cannabis). The remaining seven withdrew and those licenses have gone to runners-up in Maple Creek, Melfort, Outlook, Rosetown, Weyburn and the R.M. of Corman Park.

The license holder in Canora also withdrew but there were no runners-up. SLGA said it’s currently considering the process to select a proponent for Canora but no decisions have been made.

SLGA said proponents have approximately 16 months to open their store from when they were notified to apply for a permit. The original proponents were notified in early June 2018, while most of the runner-ups were notified at the end of June 2019.