Two more pot shops to open
By Medicine Hat News on June 5, 2019.
Medicine Hat, and specifically its downtown, is about to see two more cannabis retailers open up. Provincial regulators announced last week that they would lift a moratorium on new retail outlets and issue about five sales licences per week among the hundreds that remain in a backlog. On Monday, a list of licensed retailers published by the Alberta Gaming Liquor Cannabis Commission including two new stores for Medicine Hat, bringing the total to eight. Among the new entries are Giving and Receiving Ltd, located on the 500 block of Second Street, and NewLeaf Cannabis, on the 500 block of Third Street. The NewLeaf location will be the 15th in the province for the chain, while Giving and Receiving has independent local ownership. On May 30, the AGLC stated that improved supply from producers would allow it to add more outlets after limiting new approvals for most of 2019. About 475 applications remained in a queue, while about 110 applicants had withdrawn from the process. In Medicine Hat, a total of 15 applications had been filed by January 3, two for Redcliff and three in Brooks. There is no information available abut how many remain. The local shops announced this week sit about one block from each other and about two blocks from a S. Railway store that was among three that opened locally in October 2018. The new permits also give Medicine Hat more retailers that any location outside of the two major cities of Calgary (29 stores) and Edmonton (19). As of Monday, Lethbridge has seven, Red Deer, St. Albert, Fort Saskatchewan and Grande Prairie has three each, Brooks two and Ft. McMurray one. 12-11
