Pot shop bids roll in by the hundreds
About 450 in Alberta since March, with nearly 100 in Edmonton area
Almost anywhere you live in Alberta, someone wants to open a pot shop.
The renamed Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC) has received about 450 applications since opening its process March 6 for setting up marijuana retail stores once recreational use of the drug becomes legal in Canada this summer.
Some propositions were rejected and others haven’t yet been checked to ensure they ’re filled out properly and the fees paid before a detailed review is done, but almost 270 applications have passed initial scrutiny and been posted on the AGLC website.
That includes requests for more than 80 locations in the capital region, mostly in Edmonton.
A city report indicates that by mid-April more than 94 applications to open stores in Edmonton had been made to the AGLC.
About a half-dozen are in the popular Old Strathcona entertainment area, with the rest spread out, likely because of the city’s proposed separation zones between each store and from schools, libraries and recreation centres.
High vehicle traffic, visibility and walkability are among the top factors Fire & Flower considers when it decides where to put stores, said Nathan Mison, vice-president of government and stakeholder relations.
“People 55-plus would want to walk to stores,” said Mison, whose firm has applied for the AGLC’s maximum 37 locations, including 16 in Edmonton.
With names ranging from straightforward (Green Shop) to spiritual (Namaste) to stoner chic (420 Escape, Hey Bud), dozens of companies want to open marijuana shops in the Edmonton region.
Some of the plans will likely be rejected by the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC) or municipalities, but this map shows where pot might be locally available after the federal government legalizes weed this year. The most popular Edmonton locations are around Old Strathcona, the city centre and Stony Plain Road, while there are also a half-dozen store sites being sought in Stony Plain.
This list will grow as AGLC staff complete initial assessments of more applications and post them on their website for possible objections.