A growing community is an ideal spot for a cannabis store, says the co-founder and CEO of a company awaiting approval of its licence to operate in Orillia.
Sessions Cannabis is one of three companies whose applications are pending with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO).
“It’s a wonderful location,” Steven Fry said of the growing west Orillia, where he hopes to set up shop at 30 Diana Dr.
Sessions Cannabis began in 2019. It was the first licensed cannabis store to operate in Hamilton. The company has since opened shops in other areas, including Collingwood, and is in the process of opening another 28.
The AGCO has a “public placard process,” Fry explained, that includes notices posted at the proposed locations and allows residents 15 days to provide comments to the AGCO. While one of his locations prompted hundreds of complaints to the commission, Orillia was a different story.
“We did not have a single complaint from the community. The only complaint we received was from the city itself and we’re working through that,” he said.
The city’s guidelines state a cannabis store cannot be within 150 metres of a city-owned recreational trail. However, the AGCO has the final say.
“We’re very confident,” Fry said. “We’re following the letter of the law, which is the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, and we’re really proud that not a single community member complained about the location.”
It might take some time for people to get used to cannabis stores in their communities, but they are inevitable, he added.
“Cannabis is very much like convenience stores. There are a lot of them opening across the province and they tend to service a certain area of a community,” he said.
The location in west Orillia is one of the reasons Fry feels his store will be successful in competition with the other two proposed shops, which are within 150 metres of each other downtown on Mississaga Street.
He stressed his company is “really socially responsible,” taking steps to educate people about cannabis and, as it is required to by law, making sure people can’t see into the store.
“We want to be a good steward in the community,” he said.
Fry expects the Orillia store, if it is approved, will employ 10 to 15 people.
