Since applying for her cannabis retail licence, Sasha Soeterik had been biding her time, operating a coffee and gelato shop in Toronto’s trendy Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood while she waited for her application to go through.
“It’s a race to the bottom right now in the Ontario market,” said Charlie Bowman, acting president and CEO of cannabis producer HEXO. As of June 30, there were 3,230 licensed cannabis retailers in Canada, according to price reporting agency Cannabis Benchmarks. In 2021, on average 125 stores opened each month, while six months into 2022 store numbers had increased by 360, closer to 60 each month. There are around 1,500 stores in Ontario alone, and around a third of them are in Toronto.
According to the AGCO, which approves retail store authorizations and also tracks the cancellation of those authorizations, the number of cancellations per month is slowly going up as the monthly approvals even out. For example, in the first month of 2022 the commission approved 12 retail store authorizations while one was cancelled. In June, it approved another 12 and another six were cancelled. In August, 28 were approved and four cancelled.
Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk wrote in the report that when comparing the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corp.’s inventory forecasts to actual demand, the retailer often came up short — by a lot. In some cases there were almost 150 per cent more orders than available products. Soeterik was one of those. Her stock was running dangerously low, with just a few products available, by the time she received her order.
“Imagine if there was no alternative to Rogers during that outage,” he said. “That’s what the OCS is today.” George Smitherman, president and CEO of the Cannabis Council of Canada, said if the province’s distributor can’t supply product reliably, stores of all sizes suffer.The disorderly supply chain makes it more difficult to attract and retain customers, both new shoppers and those used to the legacy market, he said, arguing that a hybrid approach would help alleviate the pressure on the OCS.
It’s disgusting what the ONgov is doing. Many lives have been ruined & it’s only getting worse. Average store sales in the GTA is between 20-60K a month & declining. There is no leadership at the ONCannabisStore. Abolish the OCS. Useless middle man with 80% margins.
boo hoo , it was just an overpriced gift for votes. Numb us down , easier to manipulate
They all sell the same junk nothing different to offer beside membership to offer small discounts 🤣
You don’t need to be an industry watcher to call this one…there are 3 within a block of my house…there aren’t even that many Tim Hortons, and those things are everywhere!
pamelamccoll2 This dirty industry will eat its own and shops will slowly close because not that many people smoke weed the market is saturated already. The dream of weed becoming alcohol or tobacco is slowly dying..
You'll go through it again when Ontario legalizes private liquor stores.
Grow ur own? I’ve lobbied to have pot shops in the area; never had to use them but there are 9 in a 2km radius
1/3 closing? More like 1/3 staying.
TomVega42 Don’t worry. The government will subsidize them.
Do you need to be an industry watcher to find this increasingly clear? Lmao
Too many of us took the ‘opportunity’ provided by COVID lockdowns to learn how to grow our own 🔥 Don’t need your crappy dispensary excuse for pot any more.
Why use brick businesses when I can order online at literally 50% thr cost. Are you high?
I CALL BULLSHIT ON THIS POST😎😎😎😎
there should be a standard one price per gram for all dried flower . a buck a gram. if people had that kind of known pricing sales would be much better.
We live in a small town and we have 4 shops. That’s 3 too many.
Most of them are there to show a loss on the books.
the $ treet Z
Should never have been legalized - stupid and costly mistake.
Good! Even on Bloor they’re like 2-3 on every block. It’s way too much and for what. I was born in Amsterdam and even I dislike the sight of too many weed stores. It adds nothing to the street. On St. Clair alone there are two next to each other We all knew it was gonna happen
Good riddance. Bums.
Leave it to Ontario to ruin anything
Anyone remember the “Great Canadian Bagel” franchise? It grew so fast, virtually every 2nd street block had one. And how it crashed, well not everyone ate that many bagels. Same thing here, not everyone smokes the devils lettuce.
bikers under cut and won cause govt dont realize they are double the price
I was just in Toronto it's actually crazy
Nah really? There's four within walking distance of me and a fifth just opened. It's absurd.
industry watchers? Ahaha a toddler could predict this.
Bring back HMV to 333 Yonge Street!
I don't see any health benefits in pot. Yet everyone making it look like a miracle drug.get high forget your sorrows, forget that cost of living is getting high.
Good, there's way too many 'boutique style' shops which are literally just an excuse for someone with no business acumen to charge you 50% more for 'the atmosphere'...
Good news
good riddance to bad trash
Only a 1/3rd reduction? So when another 1/3rd disappear there might be fewer pot shops than coffee shops. About then we might be heading for the right number
If you’re not growing your own pot by now you’re doing it wrong 😒
This should have been predictable.
I wonder if the tobacco industry has something to do with the decline in business. They did afterall implode the vape industry. They want to corner the addiction business. Powerful people. tobaccoindustry
Go the California route. Let independent companies sell it. Allow real edibles. They're just scratching the surface on the revenue they could be generating
Wonder if they'll shoot up the competition.
I live in Durham and there’s way too many, and I’m a pot smoker! Let the free market do its thing, and the scales of supply and demand will balance itself out. Some closings and consolidation needs to happen!
Likely same in Burlington
Justin's only accomplishment, going up in smoke.
When you can buy direct from the Ontario gov online, for cheaper and have it delivered in 4 hours or less. It a mystery why stores are closing. 🤷
Only the stankiest will survive
when you see more pot shops than Tim Horton's, the end is near.
If course they'll close. People who've been smoking weed for years won't buy this crap. Buying someone's homegrown is still the way
Imagine what competition and free markets could do for say, healthcare. We could have a surplus of ER nurses!
...Doug Ford was always protecting the organized crime drug trade...
Should have been sold at the Lcbo anyway. Really think it dumb you can advertise pot shops and not alcohol.
Good riddance.
Great!!
Not only are there to many cannabis stores, but the cannabis is really over priced. It was cool and all when the shops first opened and maybe for someone going into one for the first time but prices are crazy and most times you dont even get the right amount.
😀
And that’s how capitalism works, the market adjusts to supply and demand.
Their dream was to encourage cannabis use and develop all-new markets for their products, when in fact, it never happened, and existing cannabis users prefer and continue to buy from their more affordable illegitimate sources.
this was always the plan. The big money players just bid their time knowing they would be able to come in and scoop up.
Mike30Trill Really
Yep. And whatever gang owns what’s left will jack the prices.
It’s a weed you can grow in your garden!! Once the government,corporations and ex law enforcement types got involved it was always gonna be a disaster especially when they wouldn’t give licenses to the people who have been doing it for years….
Every new store that opens up is a vape shop or a cannabis outlet, either you get a dedicated client base or you’re going to go out of business
Ain't it the truth - I live in a small city north of Toronto and we have 8 of them. More pot shops than coffee shops, its ridiculous IMHO
Hello McFly?!? Anyone with half a brain sees this happening. As long as the Government got their $ they don't care. People need to wake up and realize the Government does not care about you!
poor quality and high prices will kill the entire industry as it stands.
Great. No one needs thousands of cannabis stores.
Doug Ford can’t stand the competition?
This is sad, since you know it's mostly the independents that will close 😔
So what? Isn’t that the point of the free market; the most successful stores will survive and the lesser so will cease to exist? 😐
The careless haste in which the government has developed the rec cannabis industry to 'control' the market has ignored medical patients suffering & needs with quality medicine. I exist albeit out of the rec market due to th Supreme Court ruling of 2015.
In NS almost 100% of stores have closed since legalization- the police have shut down every store 1 after the other - they only want NSLC stores selling marijuana & related products - not private businesses - they also want to shut down vape businesses by taxing them to death
No idea why anyone thought it was going to be a good time seeing every corner have a pot shop.
Ya cheap stores with the same products are doing well
Good
Haha more like 90% will close.
No really Of course too many shops. U have 3 within a block of eachother. How are you gonna survive especially wen some places charge more than others. Lol!! More pot shops than timmys
Because they had OLD business mentality and didn't realize the order online and delivery to door 'Amazon' model is more effective. Brick and Mortar stores closing everywhere, they should have realized this.
Not a surprise. Limited market. Sporadic purchases. It isn’t wine and beer
Anyone see this coming?
DarthVallon
Over saturated is an understatement. They are everywhere!
And in other news water is wet. Like really what do you expect. There is literally one on every block
Not just stores but supply as well. It’s a buyer’s market. Ounces are regularly on sale for under $100 for decent stuff. Everyone thought it was going to be like liquor but it isn’t at all.
you can grow easily at home these days with your 4 plants outdoors in the spring/summer or a lot of people still just use the old methods or if you’re in that neck of the woods, the reserve. Prices are down too for very acceptable stuff.
How much weed can one smoke lol
Totally bogus
I never understood why people thought these stores would thrive. There is no variety. It's just the crappy OCS weed that is over priced and way over packaged. Obviously people were gonna stick with their dealers for better price and quality. OCS has recalled due to mould! Lol
Where I live there’s like 3 cannabis stores on everything corner, it’s so dumb.
1/3 will close ... so I'll only have 33 in my neighbourhood?
Maybe the problem is the government intervention on pricing and product.
Good! About time this a absolutely unnecessary proliferation of pot shops in Toronto stopped. Every corner seems to hv one. Sealed off. Windows covered. Dead zones in every commercial neighbourhood. Oddballs looming. Pity Mayor Dithers showed no leadership in this. What a waste.
Only fools or poor planners buy legal pot. Dried out, expensive and overpackaged, govt approved pot just isn't worth it.
In October 2020, Sasha Soeterik reopened her store as Flower Pot Cannabis. She had plans for a second location. But by August 2021, Soeterik wasn’t the only cannabis shop on the Dundas St. W. block anymore.
Ya think there is one on every corner beside each other!
The market will take care of the overabundance of stores.
On a 2 block stretch, in my neighbourhood, there’s 4 pot shops. Way too many. Closures were bound to happen.
I still prefer my Local reserve. Better service and selection. Way better pricing and shop local👍🏻🤷🏼♂️
Good
Well Ya, seriously did ya all think you were going to get rich, you know that the black market is selling at 300/lb. 15bucks a gram, isn't going to keep them coming back