London cannabis store fails to open on time, forfeits $25,000

The owner of a London cannabis retail store who forged a partnership with Canada’s largest marijuana company has been penalized again by the province’s pot regulator for missing its second deadline to open.

An Ontario numbered company behind Tweed, to be located at 1025 Wellington Rd. S, is one of 11 store owners forfeiting an additional $12,500 to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) for failing to be in business by April 15, a spokesperson for the regulator confirmed. The 25 individuals and companies selected through the AGCO’s lottery to apply for the first cannabis store retail licences were required to submit a $50,000 letter of credit to the regulator as part of the application process.

A dozen store owners, including Ranjit Basra of J. London at 691 Richmond St., were previously penalized $12,500 for not opening by April 1. Only 10 retail outlets, including Central Cannabis at 666 Wonderland Rd., managed to open at the beginning of the month. Already dinged $25,000, Tweed’s owner could face a maximum penalty of $50,000 if the store isn’t open by month’s end.

“This is not a fine, it was a condition of participating in the lottery,” AGCO spokesperson Raymond Kahnert said in an email. The south London outlet is one of just four pot shops still waiting for a retail store authorization — the second-last step before the businesses can open their doors — from the AGCO.

The numbered company behind the store has entered a licensing agreement with Canopy Growth, a Smiths Falls-based pot producer, to open brick-and-mortar store under its Tweed banner. A subsidiary of Canopy, Tweed already has cannabis stores in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador. The Wellington Road outlet will be Canopy’s only retail presence in Ontario, where licensed producers were barred from participating in the AGCO’s lottery and limited to a 9.9 per cent ownership in the first 25 stores.

Canopy didn’t respond to a request for comment about when the London store will open.

This is not a fine, it was a condition of participating.

DEREK RUTTAN The owner of a cannabis retailer partnered with licensed producer Tweed will again forfeit money to the AGCO for missing a second deadline to open a retail outlet at 1025 Wellington Rd. S. in London.