Pot purchasers in Airdrie have their hopes blunted

Airdrie will not have a store on Day 1 of legal cannabis sales in Canada on Wednesday.

According to Jill Iverson, team lead of corporate communications for the City of Airdrie, there were initially around 40 applications for cannabis retailers in the city, which has since dropped to between 10 to 12.

“We won’t know for sure who is going to follow through on those applications until after the 17th,” said Iverson.

“Most the applicants have a space in mind already, so it will just depend on if it fits within the landuse bylaw that was set out. They also have to go through an application process with the AGLC as well and it’s a very rigorous process to get a storefront set up.”

Grant Guenther and his wife Genny have sent in an application for their future dispensary Strain Lane in Airdrie.

They are awaiting approval, but are not able to provide an official opening date since it is subject to obtaining licensing.

“It’s been a lengthy process,” said Guenther.

“There are a lot of regulations and it takes many months to go through provincial regulatory policies to make sure you’re in compliance.”

The storefront will be located at 102 – 2966 Main St. and is still undergoing renovations.

“We’re in the process of developing our space to meet all the AGLC requirements and security specifications,”

Therearealot of regulations and it takes many months to go through provincial regulatory policies to make sure you’re in compliance.

said Guenther.

“Compared to the other 800 applicants, what’s unique about Strain Lane is it will just be run by Genny and myself. So we are quite a bit smaller than the majority of applications that have gone in. Some were very large companies. We’re very local. We’ve been living here 10 years and we’re going to provide the small-town feel and have that connection with our clients.”