The Quinte Region’s first provincially licensed cannabis shop is open in Trenton and its owner says business is booming early on.
Mark Phillips, who also owns Mystical Distributing, recently opened Island Smoke at 220 Dundas Street East and had a chat about his new business venture on CJBQ’s Lorne Brooker Show on Friday.
Phillips says it’s taken him about a year and a half to get things up and running, mainly in part to the lengthy government regulation process.
“You don’t get anything from the government until everything is finalized. If you’re buying a building, you have to purchase a building and in addition to that, you have to have the building 100% ready. You have the building stocked, you have to do everything to have that store ready to go without actually having a permit, so at any point in time they can tell you no.”
There was no shortage of dispensaries in the area prior to Island Smoke opening, with dozens of establishments set up on the Tyendinaga Territory, which have seen plenty of business themselves over the past few years.
But Phillips says there seems to be an added level of comfort for customers visiting a licensed shop.
“I think the main reason people like to shop at the government facilities is that it comes right from a licensed producer, it’s completely sealed and you know when you get that product it’s what they say. There’s also a consistency that if you find something that you like, it’s going to be exactly the same.”
Another government licensed cannabis retail shop, known as Yield Cannabis Co. is expected to open soon at 110 North Front Street in Belleville.
