well the cannabis retail landscape is
taking shape here in Toronto and it
appears a Queen Street West could become
a pot selling hotspot so the iconic
cannabis culture shop here friendly
stranger is planning on getting into the
retail game I'm hearing several business
owners in the area have secured leases
and then other spaces for lease like one
just a couple doors down are apparently
getting multiple offers by people who
want to sell recreational weed and
tonight we're also learning more about
what it will cost to open up shop in
April it's definitely more expensive
there the concept though is that the
system should pay for itself friendly
stranger a longtime cannabis culture
shop has been selling bongs pipes and
other accessories here on Queen West
since the early 90s co-founder Robin
Ellen's is hoping recreational weed
could soon be on the shelves the alcohol
and Gaming Commission is in charge of
the cannabis licensing process and
here's the breakdown the retail operator
license is six thousand dollars and for
every store you plan on opening you'll
need a retail authorization that comes
at a cost of four thousand per location
so the first store will set you back
about ten grand compare that to the one
thousand fifty five dollars of applying
for a liquor license
cannabis retail is nearly 10 times the
amount Ellen's will be applying to open
dozens of stores across the province it
could definitely make it harder for some
pawn shops to get going there's no
question about that but then the other
side of that is there's a lot of legal
hoops you got to jump through as well
they wanted to see tax returns for three
years to show that you're a lot
that you're paying your taxes they want
to make sure that you don't have any
criminal records that would affect your
ability to apply they want to make sure
that the industry that does develop is a
legitimate industry and you know there'd
be some wildcards in there and I think
some of these stopgap measures they're
putting in place will weed them have it
for the individual who was planning on
opening a single store it might seem a
little tough you know ten thousand
dollars but if you think about it if you
look at the security requirements and
all the other requirements to build out
a retail location to compete with the
big guys like fire and flower and Tokyo
smoke you're gonna have to spend quite a
bit of money anyway and ten thousand
dollars shouldn't be that big of a deal
in the long run a bit of a different
view from U of T professor Mariana valve
aired over email she told me small
private businesses shouldn't be asked to
pay 10k for a cannabis sale license a
fee that would only suit a few large
macdonald style operations now there's
no limit to the number of licenses that
can be handed out but a single company
is capped at 75 stores scan the city say
no there's too many pot shops on
Ossington no there is no legislation
around controlling where they're going
to be other than 150 meters from schools
okay so it's the alcohol Gaming
Commission that will say you're approved
you're approve you're approved your
proved to all these locations in one
neighborhood the city can't say it's
oversaturated no they cannot now we're
still waiting to hear from the province
about what cannabis retail here in
Ontario will look like we'll store
owners have to hire security band
children black out their windows all of
those are possibilities the application
process begins December 17th I did reach
out to the alcohol and Gaming Commission
I did not get a response but the city
tells me it takes up right now 8 to 12
weeks to approve for a liquor license to
be approved in that the cannabis
background checks are much more grueling