FunGuyz is shuttering all of its Toronto dispensaries this week, a move that will significantly pare down the number of illegal magic mushroom shops operating in the city.
CTV Kitchener first reported last week that FunGuyz planned to close its 30 Ontario storefronts on Monday, 10 of which are in Toronto.
On Saturday, a BarrieToday reporter visited the FunGuyz location on Dunlop Street East, but no one was available for comment about the status of the local shop.
Meanwhile, TorontoToday spoke to a longtime employee of the company at one of its Queen Street West locations on Sunday, who said staff were informed this would be the last weekend of operations.
She was unsure exactly what day her store would close, but said employees had been given their schedules through Thursday.
The FunGuyz storefronts have stopped replenishing their products, leaving shelves at the Queen West store TorontoToday visited nearly empty on Sunday afternoon.
Several customers came in looking for mushroom chocolate bars and left disappointed.
According to the employee, who asked to remain anonymous, Toronto Police Service ramped up its raids of magic mushroom dispensaries, at one point raiding eight or nine stores on the same day.
A spokesperson for FunGuyz told CTV Kitchener the company’s stores had experienced 120 raids provincewide.
Psilocybin, the official name for magic mushrooms, and commonly referred to as "shrooms," is classified as a Schedule 3 narcotic under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
The employee TorontoToday spoke to was working during a Toronto police raid of the FunGuyz location in Parkdale. She now faces criminal charges for possession of proceeds of crime and distribution of a Schedule 3 narcotic.
Despite the legal trouble, she kept working for the company and said she is “devastated” its dispensaries are closing.
She says she enjoyed teaching customers about various magic mushroom products, which she believes should remain accessible to the public, and said FunGuyz is the best-paying job she’s ever had.
According to her, the starting pay at FunGuyz was $20 per hour, or $250 per day for a 12.5-hour shift. The company paid in cash and the rate would go up the longer you worked there.
When someone took a job, the company told them about the risk of raids and promised to pay for a lawyer on their behalf should they be criminally charged, said the employee, who is being represented by Jack Lloyd, a veteran cannabis lawyer.
She acknowledged there was no contract guaranteeing the legal help, but said she's hopeful FunGuyz keeps holding up its end of the bargain once the storefronts close. Her court date is in two weeks.
The ownership of FunGuyz is elusive to her. She said she doesn’t know the names of anyone in charge, or what they look like. When higher-ups communicate with employees, they refer to themselves by a single letter or a fake name like 'John Smith.'
Opening the store for the day often involves getting a call from a random phone number that provides a security code, she explained.
FunGuyz only accepts cash payments and could do up to $6,000 in daily sales, the employee told TorontoToday.
The stores would keep an ATM inside for customers, but the machines kept being seized by police during raids, she said. According to her, ATM companies had recently stopped doing business with FunGuyz for legal reasons.
While FunGuyz is Ontario’s largest magic mushroom dispensary chain, Google Maps shows at least a dozen other similar stores operate in Toronto’s downtown. The next largest chain is Shroomyz, which has four downtown locations.
FunGuyz is expected to continue operating online.
In Barrie, there are at least two other similar shops operating, including Shroomyz on Dunlop Street West and Microzoomiez on Dunlop Street East.
Toronto police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
— With files from Bob Bruton
