A recreational cannabis store in Trail finally got the official green light.
Jeff Thompson told the Trail Times on Friday that his application to open a store has received the final approval from the province.
Thompson said, to his knowledge, the store will be only the fifth recreational cannabis store approved in B.C. since legalization was enacted in October, 2018.
Aside from the government’s own outlet in Kamloops, Kimberley had the first private one, there are two in Vancouver and a second one in Kimberley has been approved, he said.
Now he’s focused on getting the doors open to his storefront on Cedar Ave., called The Higher Path.
“I think it’ll probably be two weeks or so,” he said. “I think definitely we’ll be open by the end of January.
“We just got our licence approved on Thursday,” he added.
Thompson explained he got the licence OK’d the previous week and the final inspection was completed on Thursday.
“We will be able to order products this week.
“So we’re going to wait to order products from the website to see how long that takes to come in and then we’ll have a better estimate on our opening date.”
Getting the final approval was a longtime coming for Thompson who began his application process in August 2018.
“This was the final hoop. The anxiety has been lifted, which is great.
“We just needed to get the final inspection done on the property and that was it. So we are totally in the clear.”
He explained the store will carry the same products that are available online at the province’s B.C. Cannabis Store.
“The only products we’ll have are the same ones that are on online at the B.C. site.”
Thompson is optimistic his second store, which was approved by Castlegar council last week, will be processed quicker.
“Now that (application) will go to the province,” he said. “I would expect to hear something soon on the Castlegar shop since we’ve already gone through all the security screening and that, it should move pretty quick for us.”
