The first locally-owned cannabis dispensary in Chatham-Kent is expanding.
Higher Limits Cannabis Company opened its first store in Blenheim in the fall of 2020. The company is now set to open another location in Chatham this month.
President Greg Kazarian was born and raised in Chatham-Kent and operates the company with his business partner Philip Bradbury, who hails from Windsor-Essex. The pair also opened a location in Amherstburg at the end of 2020.
According to Bradbury, business in Blenheim has been great over the last few months.
"We have a lot of people who travel quite a distance to visit our store, talk to our budtenders and view our selection. We really couldn't be happier with how things are going there," he said.
The two entered the first Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) lottery system in early 2019 in hopes of being awarded one of the initial few cannabis retail store licences awarded in the province. In late 2019, The province axed the lottery system and removed the cap on the number of private pot shops in the province, allowing any prospective retailer to submit an application for a retail licence.
The AGCO began accepting applications in March of 2020 and received hundreds of applications for retail stores within the first few hours alone, including the applications from Higher Limits Cannabis Company for their three prospective retail locations.
Bradbury said it's been a months longs process to get all the licences approved and get the necessary plans in place to open their doors.
The main focus of the team was to target areas that they felt would be underserved in the cannabis market by bigger companies in the industry.
"For me, being from the Windsor-Essex region, I find the Chatham-Kent region to be incredibly locally-focused, for there to be a lot of pride in respect to shopping local and supporting local businesses," said Bradbury. "So, the store in Blenheim was incredibly well received and we think that's a part of it. Our business goals continue to be to located in isolated areas that are not being properly served by some of the other chains out there and bring the big city selection and prices while maintaining the customer service that someone would see in a small town."
In Chatham-Kent, there are currently four authorized cannabis retail stores, all of which are in Chatham with the exception of Higher Limit's Blenheim location. Windsor is currently home to 10 stores while London has 12.
Bradbury said the pair is focused on providing low price products and highly educated employees to help stand out from the crowd and being savvy about where to set up shop.
"Personally I feel that Chatham is already on its way to being oversaturated... normally I think that might bring some concerns for a lot of people. After operating in Blenheim since October, I really don't have a lot of concerns about competition," he said. "My concerns are more about positioning ourselves in the right location. I've seen a lot of the other stores in Chatham, I don't really consider many of them direction competition. I think we all bring many different things to the table."
With several hundred more stores currently in the process of opening their doors across the province, Bradbury said High Limits Cannabis Company will continue to focus on quality over quantity by identifying areas that been to be better represented in the cannabis industry, even if that means taking a slower approach to things.
"We do have goals to expand in the future," he said. "This may be the end of new store openings for us in 2021, however, I would expect by the end of this year we'll have applications in for a couple of new locations. I would expect to not see higher limits in larger cities any time soon."
Higher Limits Cannabis Company's Chatham location is located at 170 McNaughton Avenue West. It opens on March 9, 2021 with a grand opening on March 13, 2021.