Fort McMurray’s first cannabis store has opened, eight months after legalization.
Customers lined up down the sidewalk before Plantlife Cannabis officially opened its doors at 4:20 p.m. Wednesday in Stoney Creek Village.
Regional Manager for Plantlife Tyler Steiger tells Mix News they are very excited to be open for business.
“So far, the community has welcomed us with open arms. We’re thrilled to see what day one brings for us and we’re excited to have a full day worth of sales tomorrow just to get a few more people interested in the brand and what cannabis is. I don’t know, we’re just absolutely thrilled to be here.”
Our first look inside… Plantlife Cannabis is now officially open for business! #rmwb #ymm pic.twitter.com/hRHVNo7HuT
— MIX 103.7 News (@Mix1037FMNews) June 26, 2019
Fort McMurray resident Matt Salem was one of the first customers to enter the store.
Salem says until now, he’d been relying on the Alberta Cannabis website and he feels this opening has been a long time coming.
“It’s sweet that we finally have a place in town. This is the first of what we’re hoping to be many. Until now, I just thought this was a literal plant store so, it’s great that this is something that we actually have here in town.”
Customer Matt Salem seems satisfied with his purchase. Photo by: Brandon Piper//Harvard Broadcasting
Salem notes it’s great to see cannabis facilities finally opening after months of waiting.
Last month, Alberta Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis lifted the moratorium on licenses due to an increase in supply across the province.
Five licenses were immediately approved, including one for Plantlife.
When it came to the process of actually opening its doors, Stieger says everything happened fairly quickly.
“As soon as we knew we had the license, we had to be open within the week. So, we had to get into the city, identify who we wanted on our team. We’re so thrilled with the team members we have, and I’d say those were the two biggest hurdles: number one, the wait, and number two was being able to find the people interested in the brand so quickly before we opened our doors.”
Stieger also adds now that they are officially open, it’s Plantlife’s goal to educate everyone on all there is to know about cannabis.
“We have 134 strains as it stands right now,” Stieger said. “We have tons of stock so, please don’t worry about us running out right away. We’d love to see you down here, educate you on what cannabis is. That’s what we’re big on, the educational portion of cannabis. We’d love to get cannabis in your hands, but we want to get the right cannabis in your hands.”
