Hemptown Rock, a longtime seller of accessories, will now sell cannabis products as well, after owner Patti Vivier obtained a licence this fall.--NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
After 11 years of potential marijuana customers walking into her store downtown, Hemptown Rock owner Pattie Vivier will finally be able to answer their queries in the affirmative.
“Do you want to buy some pot,” joked Vivier on Thursday, several days after receiving her retail licence to sell cannabis alongside various paraphernalia and pot culture items the head shop has trafficked in for more than a decade.
She plans to reopen the S. Railway Street shop later this month after supplies arrive from the Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis Commission.
The storefront has long been a focal spot for people seeking pipes, bongs and other items, and basically the culture in general.
She joked at the date of cannabis legalization nearly three years ago that travellers would pull in off the highway seeking to fill medicinal marijuana prescriptions after performing an internet search for “pot in Medicine Hat.”
Vivier stayed away from the actual selling of cannabis until this fall when she applied and met the regulatory screening and security criteria for sellers.
“I’ve always sold accessories, but now the other stores have started selling accessories, so I’ll turn it on them and start selling pot,” she said.
Hemptown is the newest entry on the official list of licensed cannabis retailers, published by the AGLC, in Medicine Hat. That now totals 13 outlets, though at least three on the list have never opened for business.
It becomes the fourth cannabis retailer addressed on S. Railway Street, including two in the downtown core and two south of the intersection with Kingsway Avenue.
A change-of-use permit was issued by the city planning department and advertised last weekend along with another new cannabis retailer to be located in the Northlands Way shopping complex in Crescent Heights. That outlet has not yet been issued a licence from the AGLC.
