Nearly 10 months since cannabis was legalized across Canada, the first retail cannabis store will open its doors in Cranbrook on Wednesday, July 31st.
Government-operated, the BC Cannabis Store in Cranbrook will be one of 15 stores across the province that are expected to open before the end of 2019.
“We started looking for sites across the province late last year, of course, we had to work with all of the municipal governments as they worked through developing their rezoning to allow for the retail of non-medical cannabis in B.C.,” said Kate Bilney, Senior Communications Officer with the BC Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB). “Cranbrook was one of those municipalities that had developed rezoning bylaws to allow for that retail.”
More:Â Cranbrook Council Approves Zoning for BC Cannabis Store (November 27, 2018)
Located near Save-On-Foods and next door to Panago at #102 425 Victoria Avenue South, the store will have operating hours of 10:00 am to 7:00 pm Monday to Thursday, from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm on Friday and Saturday, and from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm on Sunday.
According to the BC Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB), the store will have 16 employees including a store manager, two assistant store managers, and several cannabis consultants.
“For cannabis retail stores, minors are not allowed to enter the store at any time. Parents aren’t even allowed to bring their children into the store, even if they are accompanied,” Bilney told MyEastKootenayNow.com. “That’s really just to keep cannabis away from youth and to make sure that only the people who are over the age of 19 have that access to non-medical cannabis.”
Two BC Cannabis Stores are already operational in Kamloops while another store will open in Campbell River the same day as the Cranbrook location.
The LDB said the retail store will offer a range of dried cannabis flower, capsules, oils, and pre-rolls approved by Health Canada.
Cranbrook City Council has received five total referrals from the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch to-date, one being the BC Cannabis Store from the Province, the other four being private retails stores that have yet to open their doors.
More: Cranbrook City Council Approves Two More Retail Cannabis Store Referrals (March 29, 2019)
