Private pot stores better, says Toronto CEO

Entrepreneur Alan Gertner hopes Calgarians will soon visit his Beltline store to purchase cannabis accessories, coffee and eventually — if everything goes according to plan — cannabis itself.

The Toronto CEO behind cannabis-themed retail outfit Tokyo Smoke is bringing his stylish coffee shop and pot accessory store to Calgary this fall.

When it opens on Nov. 16, the store will offer accessories like rolling papers, pipes, grinders or oil infusers

Gertner hopes that Tokyo Smoke will eventually distribute cannabis once the government finalizes plans for how the pot market will operate in Alberta.

“We work really hard to build on the broad principle of normalization — that cannabis use, cannabis accessories can be our normal,” Gertner says.

“We estimate a good 40 per cent of Canadians will consume cannabis when legalization happens.

“This is not a small community. We think about being part of bringing cannabis mainstream.”

Alberta has not yet decided whether to set up government-owned and operated stores or to license and regulate private retailers when cannabis is legalized in 2018.

Gertner argues that keeping the pot business private could assist in harm reduction and enticing users away from illegal sources of the drug.

“Ultimately, if the retail experience isn’t better than the black market — more available, more customized, more community-oriented — it will take longer to get rid of the black market,” Gertner says.

“I think it requires a level of expediency, a level of customer service and a level of customization that could be better served by the private market than the public market.”