By Brady Bateman

P.A.’s second cannabis retailer opens doors

Jan 25, 2019 | 7:00 AM

Prince Albert’s second licensed cannabis retailer has officially opened its doors to the public just over three months since cannabis was legalized across the country.

Co-owner Shaun Dunphy told paNOW the lengthy wait was in order to ensure enough product would be available to customers without having to worry about encountering a shortage.

“We did stockpile. We delayed opening a bit to ensure we had a good variety of product,” he said. “We definitely feel like at this point in time we have some of the best pricing and some of the best variety in the entire province.”

Canaba staff opened the doors quietly on Jan. 18, by simply illuminating their open for business sign, and waiting for customers to show up. Dunphy noted since then, business has slowly started to pick up.

“The response has been fantastic to this point. Far more people than we would have expected have come through, just from walk-by and drive-by traffic. We’ve been asking people how they notices us, and the first few days everyone was saying they just saw the open sign turned on,” Dunphy said. “Since then it’s grown more to the word of mouth, and we’re starting to get more of a social media presence to grow in that regard. The reason for the soft-opening and the stock piling is to ensure we can keep a lot of product, and a variety of product with good pricing.”

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Dunphy noted the store had more than 200 applications for prospective employment, something he equated to excitement over the still new cannabis industry.

Canaba is located at 3332 Second Ave W., and will be open seven days a week, with rotating hours. Dunphy encouraged anyone 19 years of age or older to stop by the store to see the products they currently have in store.

A grand opening will be held at a later date.

“We don’t want to have a big grand opening and then run out of product, so a tentative date would be mid-February, but it may be in a few weeks, it may be in April. Right now things are on a good pace,” Dunphy said. “When the time is right we will have a grand opening.”

brady.bateman@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TheDigitalBirdy