At least one legal cannabis store will open in Toronto next week

There’s a rush on the province, as the 25 Ontario lottery winners of cannabis retail licenses ramp up to open for business. The earliest any can start doing business is April 1, and in the country’s most populated city, it is looking like only one location will be open when the month kicks off.

The Hunny Pot Cannabis Co., located at 202 Queen St. West in Toronto, will be ready for business the morning of the first legal day to open, according to a representative. The owner, Hunny Gawri, a Mississauga Realtor, confirmed to Grow he is the licensee on the property.

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“I think we’re slated to be the only one,” said the representative. “We will be open April 1, at 9 am.”

Of the five other licensees, Ameri, the first application for Toronto submitted to the AGCO, listed at 20 Cumberland St, a short walk from the Royal Ontario Museum, and Nova Cannabis, on 499 Queen St West, parallel to the city’s iconic Graffiti Alley, have both finished their period of public notice, but has yet to be issued final approval, according to the AGCO’s website.

Local cannabis fixture, Tokyo Smoke, lending their name to the former location of the HMV flagship location at 333 Young Street, and the most recent application for a Toronto Canna Cabana location, has been submitted to the AGCO to set up shop at 435(B) Yonge St., near College Station, are both still in their period of public notice, that will not end until after the April 1 deadline, according to the AGCO.

When Doug Ford was elected premier over incumbent Kathleen Wynne, he followed through on his promise to move the province away from a publicly owned chain of cannabis stores to a private retail model.

Twenty-five applicants were selected to be given retail licenses during an independent lottery in January, after Ontario limited the amount given out to avoid the shortages that plagued the country, causing a freeze on store licenses in Alberta, and reduced hours of operation in Quebec.