London’s first legal pot shop a smokin’ hot ticket on opening day

Jason Geldhof drove more than an hour from Goderich to be the first person through the doors at London’s first cannabis retail store.

Geldhof, 40, arrived at Central Cannabis on Wonderland Road, just north of Oxford Street, around 7 a.m.

“It’s a historic day for Ontario,” Geldhof said from the front of the line that grew to nearly 200 people.

Monday marked the debut of brick-and-mortar pot retail stores in Ontario. Central Cannabis was one of just 10 of the outlets to get the green light from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, the province’s pot regulator, to open.

After a slight delay, staffers in green hoodies welcomed customers inside at 9:45 a.m. following a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Geldhof paid $81.80 for seven grams of marijuana grown by Kincardine-based  7Acres, where he works processing cannabis.

“I was nervous,” Geldhof said after placing the first order. “I’m proud to actually be No. 1.”

Located in the former Oarhouse pub at 666 Wonderland Rd., the 280-square-metre store has the look and feel of an Apple electronics store.

Small jars of marijuana — punctured with tiny holes so customers can get whiff of the product — line the perimeter of the white-walled store that carries nearly 100 strains of pot, ranging in price from $9 to $14 a gram. Glass display cases showcase a range of accessories from vape pens and grinders to lighters and rolling boards.

Staff carrying tablets field questions from customers, imputing their orders into the store’s computer system so employees at the cash registers only have to ask for a customer’s name to pull up their purchase. After paying and getting a receipt, the customer picks up their product at a nearby counter. The whole process takes roughly five minutes.

“It’s amazing to see it all come together,” said store owner Chris Comrie, who lives in Toronto and has a background in finance.

Comrie, 33, said he plans to split his time between London and Toronto.

“I want to make sure everything is running correctly,” he said.

Comrie hired Ontario Cannabis Holdings (OCH) to help him get the store up and running. OCH has opened 14 pot retail stores in Alberta under its Corner Cannabis banner.

OCH chief executive Jon Conquergood credited his team for working long hours to get the store ready for its scheduled opening.

“To be able to do this, in essentially three weeks, to take this location from bare concrete to a fully functioning competed store is amazing,” said Conquergood, who flew in from Calgary last Wednesday to oversee the final stretch.

Open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., the store has the ability to serve up to 1,000 customers in a day, Conquergood said, adding that running out of inventory isn’t a concern.

“We have more than enough product to last many, many weeks, so there’s absolutely no risk of that happening.”

Two other pot retail stores planned for London — the only Southwestern Ontario city to land any of the province’s first 25 outlets — weren’t ready to open on Monday.

Both may be fined $12,500 by the AGCO for missing the deadline. That penalty increases to $50,000 if they’re still not in business by the end of the month.

“Following the end of day, the registrar will begin to make decisions on the applicants’ efforts (to open),” commission spokesperson Raymond Kahnert said by email.

The rights to apply for the first 25 retail store licences were awarded through a lottery that drew nearly 17,000 expressions of interest in January. Seven of those licences were allocated to the west region, an area stretching from Windsor to Waterloo to Niagara Falls. The only other store in the region to open on Monday was the Niagara Herbalist in St. Catharines.

For Geldhof, who plans to frame his receipt, Monday was a day to celebrate.

“It’s been a great experience overall. I think London should be proud to have a store,” he said.

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“I hope something comes down the Huron County way soon.”

Citing a countrywide cannabis supply shortage, the Progressive Conservatives opted to grant just 25 retail licences after initially pledging to dole out an unlimited number. More could be issued in December, at the earliest, when the government says it will re-evaluate the supply situation.

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twitter.com/DaleatLFPress

An 1/8 of gallano, a one-gram blueberry kush pre-roll and two half-gram pre-rolls from @indivalife (gotta support your local LP) from Cannabis Central. Total price: $83.13. The transaction took about five minutes. #ldnont #cannabis pic.twitter.com/SmBEkB43R7

— Dale Carruthers (@DaleatLFPress) April 1, 2019

Opening of Cannabis Central pushed back to 9:30 a.m. Nearly 100 people in line, including snack service worker handing out munchies #Ldnont #cannabis pic.twitter.com/huN7vt6lwk

— Dale Carruthers (@DaleatLFPress) April 1, 2019

Big line forming outside Central Cannabis on Wonderland Road. The #cannabis retail store is one of just 10 outlets across Ontario to open today pic.twitter.com/iOrUtJCm47

— Dale Carruthers (@DaleatLFPress) April 1, 2019

Staff inside Central Cannabis, the only marijuana retail store in #ldnont to open today, are getting ready for the first customers pic.twitter.com/zEnsL8vzrQ

— Dale Carruthers (@DaleatLFPress) April 1, 2019

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