Campbell River could be the home of the second government-operated cannabis retail store in the province.
Or it could be the fourth.
But it’s definitely on its way, because the BC Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) held a job fair in Campbell River Thursday (March 7) to recruit prospective employees for its BC Cannabis Store, which is expected to open in late summer.
The location, according to Kevin Satterfield, director of store operations for BC Cannabis, will be one of three more stores the organization will be opening by the end of summer.
“We haven’t set an exact opening date yet, because we’re waiting to see how the construction progresses, but it will be open at some point this summer,” Satterfield says. “We’ll be opening three more at about the same time, and this will be one of the three.”
The job fair was held at the Coast Discovery Inn and served as an opportunity for prospective BC Cannabis Stores employees to speak to representatives from the LDB, which operates BC Cannabis Stores, and learn more about the positions available and experience required.
BC Cannabis Stores is currently looking for one store manager, two assistant managers, six full-time cannabis consultants, and eight part-time/auxiliary cannabis consultants for the Campbell River location, which will be in the old Joey’s Only Seafood location at the Discovery Harbour Shopping Centre, across from Moxie’s Grill & Bar.
“What we’re looking for is people who have good retail store experience as well as a good cannabis knowledge and expertise,” Satterfield says. BC Cannabis does offer additional training, “because we have specific things that we’re going to need them to be aware of, such as our social responsibilities,” Satterfield says, but in order to qualify for consideration, applicants will just need to show they are familiar with the product and have a background in retail sales.
BC Cannabis Stores employees will also be required to undergo an Enhanced Security Screening check, in accordance with the Cannabis Control and Licensing Act.
While LDB recruiters are collecting resumes at the event, all prospective candidates must submit their application via the LDB’s online portal at www.bcldb.com/about/careers to be considered. All employment opportunities for BC Cannabis Stores are posted at this site.
Satterfield says he has been “pleasantly surprised” with the response to the job openings, saying “we’ve had a couple dozen people come through,” by noon on Thursday, “some of which have exactly the qualities we’re looking for, so we’ll be following up with them for further interviews when we get back into the office, but we also plan on doing interviews all next week and the week after.”
Satterfield says there’s still no timeline or total number of province-wide retail outlets the organization will be opening, but he’s happy with how the City of Campbell River has moved forward in the process.
“It all depends on the municipalities’ readiness to have a store in that location,” he says. “Every municipality is different in terms of where they’re at in their timeline in readiness either zoning or creating bylaws and where they want it to be. Campbell River has moved forward and they were very good about being open about what they wanted to do. It’s been good.”
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