Thorold is getting its first cannabis storefront.
If everything goes as Toronto retailer Bret Unger hopes, come this fall, residents will be able to visit the Pine Street Plaza not only for pet needs or groceries – but for legal pot too.
“I love the space, I love the plaza. As soon as I saw the listing for the spot, I thought it was perfect,” said Unger to Thorold News.
The storefront, dubbed ‘Takeoff Cannabis’ will be his first venture in the legal weed market after running other retail businesses in Toronto for the last few years.
Unger says he is passionate about cannabis and the community surrounding it, especially in a small-town setting.
As the store gets ready to open up, Unger says he is planning a temporary move for himself to Niagara, to make sure that the store gets up and running.
“My business is very customer service oriented. I love the idea of everyone knowing your name in the store, what type of strains of cannabis you like, or what type of edibles. That is the concept I want to bring to the market. Not just a store where everything is locked up and it’s just ‘in-and-out’. I want to bring a friendly face to the market,” he said.
Unger got his license after a lengthy application process that is cornered with red tape.
The regulations facing cannabis retailers in Canada goes all the way down to the shop floor, where inspectors from the Alcohol and
Gaming Commission of Ontario needs to put its seal of approval on the store after an in-person visit.
Unger says due to backlogs and slow-moving paper mills, he is hoping that the government will sign off on his storefront in time for him to open up around November.
He says the store will employ somewhere between a half- and a dozen people on a full- or part-time basis - and applications are already coming in.
But what is more important, says Unger, is the feedback from locals.
“I was down there to look at the space and talked to the people who were at the plaza just shopping, and every single one was super excited about a cannabis store coming to Thorold,” said Unger.
The legal pot market grossed $1.2 billion dollars in Canada during its first full calendar year, 2019.
