Delta 9 opens new cannabis shop in Osborne Village

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This article was published 20/03/2019 (1860 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Osborne Village will gain its third cannabis store this morning, when Delta 9 Cannabis launches its gleaming new location at 478 River Ave.

Delta 9 CEO John Arbuthnot says the company’s second cannabis store, in a large, newly renovated basement suite previously occupied by a pet spa, will be its new flagship location.

Delta 9 already operates a medical cannabis clinic on the building’s second floor, and is moving some of its offices into the building as well.

Eventually, Arbuthnot hopes Delta 9 can open a legal cannabis consumption venue in the building — assuming they can navigate a path through Manitoba’s restrictive laws about where cannabis can and can’t be used.

“I think there’s a certain number of Manitobans that have been kind of left out, in terms of where’s a safe consumption avenue, and that’s where these vape lounges or otherwise could probably step in,” Arbuthnot said.

Five months after legalization last October, Arbuthnot said Manitoba’s licensed cannabis stores and the producers that supply them are getting closer to achieving a steady supply. The new store will open at 10 a.m. today with 16 different types of dried cannabis bud, plus assorted cannabis oils and pre-rolled joints, he said.

But the customers buying that bud aren’t quite who Delta 9 originally expected, Arbuthnot said.

“Our assumptions, pre-legalization, were that obviously, the core demographic was going to be 19 to 25… What we’ve seen is quite the opposite. We’ve seen a lot of the boomers and the older crowd.”

Those shoppers already have other options in Osborne Village. A Tokyo Smoke cannabis store on Stradbrook Avenue and a Tweed store on Osborne Street have been open for months. Arbuthnot said Delta 9’s new store will be able to compete because of its prime location, directly across the street from a Safeway, a Shoppers Drug Mart and a Liquor Mart, and by selling cannabis at a lower retail markup than competitors.

“Our retail environment is structured more around volume,” he said. “We don’t need to charge as much of a markup, because we’re moving more volume of products.”

The new Delta 9 store will also be open until 11 p.m., while nearby competitors close at 10 p.m.

Justin Paquin, Osborne Village Business Improvement Zone chairman, said all the weed shops in Osborne Village have been good neighbours, and he believes they’re boosting foot traffic.

“It’s good for business,” Paquin said. “The more people that are in the area… they’ll see the other businesses that are here as well and they’ll be more likely to stop in for a bite to eat or check out the retail.”

solomon.israel@freepress.mb.ca @sol_israel