Niagara’s first pot shop proposed for Garden City
Niagara’s first pot shop could be located among chicken wings, hair cuts and hearing aids in a strip mall in north St. Catharines.
The Niagara Herbalist has applied to open a cannabis store at 33 Lakeshore Rd. and is among the first in Ontario to undergo a public notice process.
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario posted retail store authorization applications by three would-be operators on its website. It’s asking for public feedback by Feb. 20.
The other two stores are Ganjika House in Brampton and Ameri in Toronto.
The Niagara Herbalist’s store would be located in a former real estate office in the plaza at the corner of Lake Street and Lakeshore Road. The mall is near Port Dalhousie and features several businesses including Bugsy’s, Lakeshore Meats and LifeLabs.
If the process goes smoothly, it
could be up and running by April 1 — the date the province wants to introduce private retail stores overseen by the AGCO.
The commission chose 25 entries out of more than 16,900 that qualified through a lottery on Jan. 11. The Niagara Herbalist was one of seven submissions chosen for the west region — a huge area which includes Niagara, Hamilton, Windsor, Waterloo and Manitoulin Island.
AGCO spokesman Raymond Kahnert said Wednesday that all selected applicants submitted their applications for a retail operator licence — the first step in the process to open a store.
The next step is to submit applications for a retail store authorization, which some of the 25 have done.
The trio of applicants from St. Catharines, Brampton and Toronto are the first to have their retail store authorization applications at the stage where the public notice process can begin.
“The AGCO continues to work closely with the balance of the applicants and, at the appropriate stage of the review process, will advise them when to begin the public notice process, including the posting of a placard on their proposed storefront,” Kahnert said in an email.
He said the selected applicants chose the locations they want to operate in from eligible communities within their region.
In the west region, 13 cities were eligible locations — including St. Catharines, Niagara Falls and Welland — because they have populations of more than 50,000 and their municipal councils said yes to having stores.
It’s currently unknown if the other six applicants from the west region will choose a Niagara address for their operations.
Requests for an interview sent to The Niagara Herbalist went unanswered.