When the first retail cannabis licences were up for grabs through a lottery earlier this year, it was a complete buzzkill for Barrie.
The city didn't make the cut in landing a provincially regulated marijuana store, but at least one company hopes a joint effort will help tip the scales in Barrie's favour this time around.
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), which regulates retail cannabis in the province, will soon roll out its second draw. Applications must be submitted by Aug. 9, with the lottery to follow Aug. 20.
There are 42 licences up for grabs. Applicants must pre-qualify, including a letter of credit and confirmed retail space.
Liquid Chrome, located on Dunlop Street East, has operated in Barrie for 17 years. The downtown business entered the first lottery, but came up short.
Assistant store manager Eric Batters says he doesn't want to get his hopes too high, however, in case the business strikes out again.
"But it just makes the most sense for Barrie to get something, because we're in between everything," Batters told BarrieToday on Thursday afternoon. "Everyone piles through here and everyone asks for product, and there's absolutely no one in Barrie.
"It's probably the biggest untapped market at this point."
Ontario Cannabis Holdings (OCH) says it also wants to help bring a retail cannabis store to Barrie. Their aim is to work with new licensees and advise them on how to get a shop up and running within the provincial guidelines, something they have experience with in London, Ont.
"That's why we're putting the call out and trying to level the playing field," Jon Conquergood, OCH's chief executive officer, told BarrieToday in a phone interview from the Peterborough area. "What we're trying to do is align ourselves with entrepreneurs in the Barrie market, in addition to our own applications, so we can get more lottery applications in Barrie to make a greater chance of somebody winning in that region."
Barrie falls into the East Region, which is a massive area stretching from Georgian Bay over to Ottawa, and which also includes Peterborough, Muskoka and Haliburton.
OCH has a Barrie site in mind, but didn't want to disclose the location before things are finalized. The site, however, is said to be north of downtown.
Conquergood says they're keen on working with any entrepreneurs in the budding retail cannabis industry who obtain a licence through management contract with OCH, which would provide the resources and industry know-how to help guide them through the steps of opening a store.
“We’re hoping to lend our experience and expertise to new retailers to ensure they are able to meet all of the deadlines to be able to open on time, thereby ensuring that residents in the region have access to safe, legal cannabis,” Conquergood said.
Without a retail cannabis store in Barrie, the black market continues to thrive, he said.
"Obviously, Barrie is completely under-served by the legal cannabis market," Conquergood said. "That just leaves the door open for the black market to continue to exist. Our hope is that we can get a store in Barrie and push the black market out of the way.
"Barrie has always been great town with high growth over the past numbers of decades," he added. "I used to live there a long time ago, so I have a fondness for Barrie and think it would be a great place to open a store."
The CEO says the company can provide a "turn-key solution" to help open a fully functioning store with trained staff who are well-versed in the rules and regulations surrounding marijuana sales.
"That's what we bring to the table, because cannabis is an extremely, highly regulated industry, more so than than even say pharmacy," Conquergood said.
Meanwhile, Batters says Liquid Chrome has put together their own application to "get their name in the hat and see what happens" with the lottery.
"At this point, it's not as exciting as the first time, but you never know," said Batters, who was worked at the downtown shop for more than a decade. "But hey, you can't win if you don't play, right?"
Batters says he's going into the lottery with a positive mindset, though.
"Honestly, you're just crossing your fingers and hoping everything works out," he said.
Batters says licences in the first round mostly went to larger companies.
"Maybe there will be a little more fairness this time around, but we're not really getting our hopes up," he said frankly. "It's random again ... so we might not get as good of a ranking as we did last time. It's really hard to say."
In some ways, it's almost like going back to Square 1, Batters added.
"It's not really like a step forward, because they're just restarting the whole process again," he said.
Conquergood said he believes the lottery system works, because it allows the province to control the number of stores to match the supply of cannabis.
"In that sense, they're trying to make it so that every store that opens is a success," he said. "If they open too many stores at once, and there's not enough supply, you'll inevitably have some stores that don't survive. It's better to throttle the number of stores opening, to match the amount of product available, so that everybody can succeed."
Conquergood and his team helped set up London’s first store, Central Cannabis.
"In London, we had a very tight timeframe to get that store up and running," he said, noting it took about three weeks, "which is an extremely tight timeline. This time around, we'll have approximately five weeks, which still isn't a huge amount of time. Normally, it takes six to eight weeks to get a store (up and running)."
Conquergood says the provincial government was "extremely happy" with their London store.
"We had many unannounced inspections of the store and had absolutely no issues with meeting the requirements. The local community (in London) has been extremely supportive of the store," he added. "We believe we're the No. 1 store in London, by a wide margin, and that's because we do a lot to engage with the community."
That includes everything from community outreach to speaking with business associations and religious groups.
