Kelowna and West Kelowna residents will soon have access to two more legal pot shops.
The provincial government has issued two more cannabis licenses to one lucky entrepreneur.
“It was a long wait of just not knowing what is going on with the province and there's a long list of people that are waiting. So you don’t know if you're going to be next or what’s happening. Then all of a sudden one day you get an email and voila you got it,” said Chris Gayford, owner of Cheeba Cheebas.
Gayford has been operating his pot accessory store, Mary Janes Headquarters, for seven years.
Now he will be open Cheeba Cheebas, a legal cannabis sales store, in the units he purchased next to his current locations.
“For me it was a business decision to get involved with the cannabis retail side of things. My thoughts were if everyone else is going to be selling accessories in order to remain competitive. I thought if I have a location very close to my accessory store it’s going to bring people to come into the stores and have that one stop shop opportunity,” said Gayford.
Cheeba Cheebas will be located at HWY 33 and Rutland rd. in Kelowna and at Bartley and Byland Roads on the West side.
“You know, we have our licenses, we've jumped through a lot of hoops and there are more hoops to go through when it comes to the development process. It has to go through the city and that takes time so I’m in the process of finalizing some drawings, vie chosen the construction company and they’re working with the city to make sure everything's to code.”
They expect to be open by the middle of November and when they do, they will offer flower, capsules and oils, and then concentrates and edibles when they come available in December.