Chris Jones on the Fundamentals of Cannabis Retailing in Ontario | #HashtagFinance

CSE's Grace Pedota is joined by Chris Jones, CEO of Cannabis Xpress to discuss his experience launching a new cannabis retail venture in the midst of the pandemic, and the recent steps he has taken to deliver his vision for a speedier and more efficient model of cannabis retail.  

Here's an overview of what Grace and Chris cover in this edition of the #HashtagFinance podcast:

0:35 - Introducing Chris Jones
3:20 - Trend-spotting during his time at Origin House
4:42 - Founding the Star Buds retail chain 
6:58 - Why he chose Barrie for his debut retail location
9:19 - Ontario's quick transition to virtual inspections
12:35 - Insights from his first retail launch
14:13 - Cannabis Xpress - focused on speed and efficiency 
18:28 - Who is the ideal customer for Cannabis Xpress?
20:47 - Drive through cannabis stores?
22:05 - Characteristics of cannabis 3.0
23:50 - How COVID has been positive for the cannabis industry
26:20 - Teaching 'cannabis' at post-secondary institutions
28:00 - Advice for new cannabis retailers

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey, it's James here welcoming you to this presentation of the hashtag finance podcast. This is just a friendly reminder that if you'd like video, all of our CEO and expert interviews are featured on CCTV on YouTube, that CSE space TV on YouTube. And finally, this is just a friendly reminder that the views information or opinions expressed during this show are solely those of the individuals involved and not necessarily representative of those at the CSC or its employees. So happy listening, and now enjoy the show. This is hashtag finance presented to you by the Canadian securities exchange the exchange for entrepreneurs with your host grace pagoda.

Speaker 2: 0:46

It's grace pagoda from the CSC. And I am here with Chris Jones, cannabis express, founder, president, and board member. Chris, how are you doing today? I'm doing a little grace. How are you? Good, good. Um, so I'm very excited to have finally had the chance to do an interview interview with you because you've been very active. You've had, uh, a few new initiatives lately and, um, definitely, um, stands out because you accomplish these initiatives during a time of uncertainty. And I guess we'll get to that in a little bit, but first off, do you want to kind of just, um, tell our audiences, just our audience a little bit more about you?

Speaker 3: 1:29

Yeah. So I've been working in the cannabis industry for a few years now, although it, it feels like a lifetime. Uh, prior to that, I was working at a law firm in two construction companies, um, completing my MBA, uh, at McMaster university. So I was doing those things and then looking for a role, uh, in the cannabis industry, which then led to a big company. And then here I am today, uh, starting my own.

Speaker 2: 1:56

Great. And so, um, your first, uh, role in the cannabis industry was at origin house. Um, what, what led you to that role or what, you know, when you were seeking a role within the cannabis industry? Where, where did that come from?

Speaker 3: 2:11

Yeah, so I was, when I was doing my MBA, I was looking for a cannabis job. It was right around the time of legalization. So most of the careers in the cannabis industry were primarily just in cultivation and a lot of the cultivation sites weren't in Ontario, uh, which I obviously wasn't interested in. So I was, I was looking for a role, uh, legalization came, uh, and then a small, uh, publicly traded company called Kantar royalty Corp, which is trade on the CSC. Uh, they were looking for a co-op student. So I started, I started there, I started in a tiny office, uh, on Richmond street and a little, we work there was like six or seven of us, uh, at the time the stock was like two 50. I think the market cap was like two, 250 million. Uh, then it just exploded. Right. We did a lot of deals in the U S uh, six acquisitions, uh, in total and a few smaller, smaller investments, but the team grew from like seven to, uh, close to like 40 people at one point. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 3:08

Wow. Wow. So you saw a lot of growth within that company, especially within the early days of cannabis. So what insights or skills did you kind of learn from origin how's that helped you become an entrepreneur, um, within the cannabis space today?

Speaker 3: 3:24

Yeah, I got pretty lucky because at the time, like I mentioned, there wasn't many jobs in Canada and all of our investments were focused on the U S so when I was looking at a market like California, which is light years ahead of where we are here in Ontario, I was able to see like, what, you know, what types of products people are buying, which brands, uh, learning about different licenses, the licensing process, uh, which companies were being bought and sold. Like we're, you know, we're the most money was right for someone as an investor, as well as, you know, some of these founders of businesses. So I was lucky in a sense that I could look at an, uh, a place where they were just much further ahead than where they are here, just because I think a lot of the trends that have happened over there are slowly trickling into our, you know, our country here in Canada. So I was, I was lucky in that sense and then looking at, uh, different, I guess it led to, we did a deal with one of the first round lottery winners in Ontario. So that's, I guess what led me here today. Uh, but our company did the deal with one of the first round lottery winners. And then I went through the whole Adco licensing process with that individual. And then I saw a huge opportunity in, in retail, specifically in Ontario, and then it led to me founding a business and selling it, uh, very recently.

Speaker 2: 4:38

Yeah. And so let's talk a little bit more about that as good, good lead way. Um, so you, you, um, started a retail store called star buds. Uh, what was that like? Especially, um, opening it within the beginning of the pandemic?

Speaker 3: 4:53

Yeah, so it was, it was an interesting time because what happened just the whole licensing process there's there was a first lottery, uh, completely random in, in Ontario for 25 licenses. Then there was a second lottery for, I believe, 50 licenses in Ontario. And then the government announced that on January 2nd of this year, they were going to open it up to a first come first serve process. So at the time I was still working at origin house, thinking about, you know, just different opportunities and already being going through the licensing process earlier, I was speaking to, uh, one of my former colleagues and we decided to form a company, uh, apply for the first license at the beginning of January when it opened up. So we did that. And then we were looking for once in a while, once we got the license for one of the first a hundred groups in Ontario to get the first, uh, licensed the retail operator license. So once we had that, we were looking for different locations, uh, that we wanted to lease. And we were looking for, uh, just like a brand name and what we're going to call the store. So between January, 2020 and March, 2020, we had a months to look for locations because on March 2nd, 2020, the government, uh, allowed for people to apply for the second license, which is the retail store authorization license. So that's the site specific license. So the first, uh, license that we had just gives you the ability to open up to 75 stores in the province. And then the second license is the one that's location specific. So we had a few months between January and March, where we were, uh, raising capital to fund the rollout of the stores, looking for a brand name, and then securing all of our, uh, supplier contracts for like our point of sale system, our banking, uh, things like that.

Speaker 2: 6:35

Great. Yeah. And I, I think, I remember, uh, sitting around the table with you at, uh, I can't remember where it was. It was me, you and Mel, and, uh, you would come in with, uh, the, the, the business idea on a sheet of paper and you were, you were quite nervous, so it was a, it was great to see you how to accomplish that. Um, why did you choose loca Berry as a location? Yeah,

Speaker 3: 6:56

Sort of the first stores we applied for, I believe it was five stores at the beginning, and then we killed two of those locations, uh, just, just because they didn't make sense later, but we chose Berry particularly because of the low amount of, uh, competition at the time. So there's only one store that was open in Berry, uh, completely other end of Berry from where we were located. And when we were trying to figure out where to open stores, we only had a, so we raised about a million dollars. So we had obviously a limited number of funds, and we were looking at places outside of Toronto, just because this is pre pandemic. We were looking for locations. So everything was very expensive. The landlords were asking for six months upfront non-refundable deposits. So it didn't really make sense for us to open a store in Toronto. So we're looking for areas that were within an hour of Toronto, um, already had a good consumer base, you know, cause there was a store there in Berry and we, uh, had an idea of what their sales were. Uh, so we were looking in Berry, we found a few locations. Uh, we put in those applications, the first store opened in June, uh, this summer, the second store was in a town called Bradford. Uh, so another smaller town population of about 35,000 compared to Berry at about one 61 65. Uh, so that one opened in July, 2020, and then the third location got licensed, uh, I believe this week in Innisfil and then the fourth one in berries, there's four stores total that fourth one should be licensed, uh, very soon as well.

Speaker 2: 8:21

Great. And what, um, what made you want to open up another store in Berry? Was that because the demand was high?

Speaker 3: 8:28

Yeah, we had it, we had a good location, uh, very friendly landlord. Um, yeah, it was a good, good location, friendly landlord and it just made, it just made a lot of sense at the time.

Speaker 2: 8:38

That's great. And so when you, um, when you had started a Starbucks, you were one of the first retail stores to have virtual inspection. Um, yeah.

Speaker 3: 8:48

So, so just, just going back to the name, the name briefly. So we chose that name because the group that, uh, invested the, of the cash in our company had, uh, the license or the, had the IP for the name in, in Canada. Uh, so that's part of the reason why we chose that name. Uh, and then in regards to, uh, your question, you asked,

Speaker 2: 9:10

How did, how did the virtual inspire

Speaker 3: 9:12

The virtual inspection? So it's, it's interesting because going through the licensing process at the very beginning, it's completely, completely different than, than how it is now. So part of that is, uh, we were actually very lucky that I went, to be honest, I was when COVID hit, it was, uh, very tough to work on any locations, no one wanted to work. It was tough to find contractors. So I think a lot of the stores are people that were wanting to open up stores either, uh, completely stopped working or they just got out of it and changed their mind. So we got lucky because I thought at the time that the government was going to just completely halt licensing, like we've seen that happen in Alberta before, obviously for a different reason, but that was a pretty big worry at the time for us is that we were just going to be in this, you know, a few months limbo of paying rent, paying all these costs and not being able to open. So doing the virtual inspections was, it was great. The government did a pretty, pretty good job with transitioning pretty, fairly quickly actually, you know, to do those virtual inspections. So, uh, I think they're actually a lot more thorough doing it virtually I've never had an in-person inspection before, but you know, you still go through all the same requirements, making sure there's no blind spots, you have a camera or multiple cameras in every room, making sure every door is, you know, has different locks on it is secure, making sure the windows are frosted or tinted. So people from the public can't see in that are underage. So, you know, they went through the exact same list of items that needed to be done, regardless if it was virtual and in-person and our experience with it was pretty, you know, pretty positive they did. Yeah. I think the government did a very good job of adapting, um, once COVID hit to that.

Speaker 2: 10:48

Yeah. And I think, uh, you know, the cannabis industry is pretty fast paced, uh, as it is. So it was great to see the government, um, work alongside the fast paced environment that the cannabis industry greats. And, um, and so do you think that it is the key to increasing the number of retail stores having a virtual inspection?

Speaker 3: 11:09

I think so the government announced, uh, I believe it was in the September that they were doubling the amount of licenses issued per week. So initially they were giving a five per week. Now it's 10 licenses per week. And then I believe they're going to be increasing that to about 15 to 20 per week in January or February next year. So they are increasing the number of licenses, but I don't think it has to do with it being virtual. I think it was more so on the OCS and having their second facility up and running just so they're able to actually distribute all the products to the retail stores. So how it works as a retailer, you get what they call a buy sheet every week. So you get a buy sheet, it's basically an Excel document with every product available. Then it tells you like the name, the price, and the low to high, if you're actually going to be able to get that product. So you fill your buy sheet, you send it back into the government. Uh, they withdraw the funds from your account, and then you have a set a day or days that week where they're going to make the delivery. So the government, uh, the OCS is the only legal, uh, distributor of canvas right now in Ontario. So that's the only group we can buy it from. So I believe them issuing more licenses wasn't necessarily to do with it being virtual or not. It was more so on their own like supply chain, just so they would be able to service, you know, Ontario is a big province, so they need to be able to deliver all over the place.

Speaker 2: 12:29

And what, um, just cause I'm curious about consumer behavior within the cannabis industry, what kind of insights can you provide us in terms of what you saw with your first location in Berry?

Speaker 3: 12:41

Yeah, we, we decided to not go too big on our locations. So the first one in Berry was about a thousand square feet. Um, we didn't, yeah, we didn't want to go too big just because I, you know, I've been into a lot of stores and a lot of them are, I think are just way too big. Uh, so, you know, that was very important to the success of that location. Uh, additionally, just speaking to customers, like I would just go into the store. I would talk to as many customers as possible because, you know, we're, we're, we're providing a store where they can buy products, right. So we need to listen to all of our customers. That's where we get the best feedback because, you know, I have one idea of how to do something, but if I have 10 customers, you know, and they all say the same thing, then I need to make that change. Right. So just looking at customers right now, a lot of them aren't, as I'd say, they need a lot more or they need additional education just on, you know, the products and brands and really what they're looking for. Like a lot of customers come into the store, uh, just asking for, you know, what's the highest THC percentage of pre-roll you have in, at the lowest cost. Right? So I think over time, customers are going to realize it's not necessarily the highest THC that's, you know, the best for you. You can get something that's lower in THC, but has different terpenes that affect you more. Right. So I think customers are, you know, they're still going through like an educational phase right now, but over time, I think they're going to be a lot, a lot smarter on what types of products they want to purchase.

Speaker 2: 14:04

And this is, that's a great segment into what is cannabis express. And can you explain how it presents a new retail model?

Speaker 3: 14:12

Yeah. So, so what happened was after getting the, you know, three, four stores licensed from Starbucks and running that company, I decided to, I had a different vision of where I see the future of cannabis. So it made sense to exit that company. My partners bought me out, uh, all cash, which was a little rare these days. You know, he see a lot of stock deals. Uh, so the, the new vision or model of retail store that I, you know, I'm putting together right now is a store where you go in it's, you know, very tiny, uh, but very convenient. So it's a local store that you go into limited a number of skews, uh, say 50, 50 skews, one board, and you go in, uh, you think your product and you, and you leave. So the timing of these stores, opening coincides with, you know, the customer is getting more educated. So it's good that customers can go into other stores right now, you know, go and they go into these big stores, they speak to a bud tender for 20, 30 minutes. They learn all about their products. And then once they know what they like, they, they come to my store because it's convenient and it's a it's lower priced. So I think, you know, w I don't know if you've been into many, many cannabis stores right now, but you go in, and some of these stores have like 200 different skews of flour and, you know, being a customer or even you myself, like, I, I know all these brands, I know all these products, but even going in, it's like, how do I decide when there's 200 different products to purchase, right. So I need to speak to someone, but if you go into a store with, you know, they have five products, they switch them every week. Uh, it's a lot easier, easier, and faster to make a purchasing decision. And obviously studies have shown that when you have too many options, you end up not making a decision at all.

Speaker 2: 15:48

Right. And very true. And, uh, what motivated you to build a new retail model with cannabis express? Like what gap did you kind of want to fill? And I know you kind of answered that in the previous question, but if you want to elaborate on it, what gap specifically did you want to fill, or did you notice that needed to be filled from your experience with Starbucks?

Speaker 3: 16:09

Yeah. So a few different things. I think one of the gaps right now, just in the industry as a whole, is there aren't that many retail stores in Ontario, I believe there's close to 200 that are licensed right now, but I don't think not all of them are open. And then there's about 700 ish stores that are in various stages of licensing. So just right off the bat, there's a lot of cities and towns and places where there should be a store, but there isn't. So, you know, starting off, we do need to open up more stores in Ontario. And then the main gap that I see is just speed and efficiency and keeping costs down. Like, have you, have you been into, uh, those large fancy LCDs? There's like a few of them in Toronto. Have you been into them?

Speaker 2: 16:52

Yeah. Well, I was actually going to compare it to like, just going back to more stores, being needing to be open there's I'm in Cabbagetown and there's like three or four, just down the street. So I'm wondering what, like, even as a consumer, I have my favorite store, but,

Speaker 3: 17:11

Well, why is it your, why is it your favorite store? Is it your first one or

Speaker 2: 17:16

No, because it's pretty

Speaker 3: 17:18

Okay.

Speaker 2: 17:19

Stuff in there. And it's like, it's really pretty. The other ones look kind of under, like, they don't look as nice, so I don't want to go inside of them, which is totally against your vision, but

Speaker 3: 17:31

Not necessarily. Right. I think what happens to the say you went into those four stores and the store that's the prettiest is you're paying two times the price for the exact same product. That's 10 feet away.

Speaker 2: 17:43

No, cause I look it up online before, and I didn't hear the prices. Yeah. Cause if the flour that want is like it and it usually has the least like expensive price.

Speaker 3: 17:54

Okay. So that's there. That's perfect. So you would be the customer because if, think about it though, if everything else is the same, you know, if you're, if, if price is what motivates you as a customer to switch stores.

Speaker 2: 18:06

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And I'm the type I like where I will go online beforehand and check because yeah. That's probably the, and so that, that's what leads me into my other question for you. Like, what is your ideal consumer for cannabis express besides

Speaker 3: 18:22

Honestly they, they, they really could be anyone like, it could be you, it could be my mom, it could be anyone it's it's any customer who's, uh, you know, potentially price sensitive, but just wants to go in and get out. Right? Like if you have a store where you can just go in, like, even, even you, if you had an LCPO a tiny LCPO near your place and you knew you could buy something online and pick it up in five minutes, you would do that. Right. I think the only, or the main reason a lot of those people would want to go to a much larger store is for a broad selection. So if you're going to a special event or party and you wanted a special bottle of champagne, then maybe you'll go to a larger store and buy that because there's more selection, but for like 95% of your purchases that year, they're going to be, you know, a certain, a certain amount of products. Right?

Speaker 2: 19:08

Yeah. Do you think that, um, you would get some sort of data or consensus around what kind of products that community, or that area likes to buy before filling the store with that type of product for those people in that area?

Speaker 3: 19:25

Yeah. So what the OCS does during your onboarding process, they give you a data and information on what products people are buying in that area online. Obviously, you know, if someone's buying it online, it's being delivered to them from the OCS. It doesn't necessarily tell you that's going to be the exact makeup of products purchased in that area, just because it is online through a different channel. Um, but that's, that's one piece of information that you can go off of. And then obviously already having stores and seeing all that information myself, most people are buying, you know, a certain amount of products and I can see what people are buying. So another good reason for this business model is that our inventory is so low. So if we make our first inventory purchase, that's 40,$50,000, uh, it's low, low risk. And then if people don't buy a certain product or brand, or we'll just discount it and then we'll, you know, restock something else next week. And the thing is too, you know, Raymond customers come in, you really don't know who your customers are going to be. So just keeping the inventory purchase low, and then just asking customers when they come in, like, Hey, what are you looking for? You know, what brands have you heard of? What do you like, you know, taking that information in and then just making the order next week, that's different and tailored to those customers.

Speaker 2: 20:35

Okay. Interesting. And do you foresee drive through cannabis stores?

Speaker 3: 20:43

Oh, I hope so. I hope so. I, I heard of one person might've been doing it in Ontario, but what happened was over the summer when COVID first started, they temporarily allowed for curbside pickup and delivery. So they had that for about a month and then they, uh, they took it away. So right now you have to be in the store. Like, like if you make a purchase online, you still have to pick it up in store. So I don't know if like Lee putting your hand through a window of a store technically means you're inside the store. Um, but I think the government will probably come back with curbside pickup soon. So once, once they do, yeah. Having a, having a drive-through, it'd be very convenient and then even more so if, you know, imagine being a customer and you went through a drive-through of a store that had 300 items on the menu,

Speaker 2: 21:27

Well, there's there, there's a store like that in on the Danforth. And it's literally what kind of, what you have envisioned for cannabis express and you just go right in and there's just a menu. It looks like a menu to, I don't know, just, just, and it it's just alternating all the time. And there's just like strains after strains of restraints

Speaker 3: 21:48

In those menus. They're impossible to read. I go into some stores and they see those menus that, that move like, it's, it makes no sense.

Speaker 2: 21:53

I know. I know. Yeah. Um, and from your perspective, what does cannabis, are we 3.0 now, like what does cannabis 3.0, look like to you? Do you think it's more focused on oils rather than flour? What, what are you seeing?

Speaker 3: 22:08

I think what's going to happen is so right now, even with so many more brands and licensed producers coming online and people getting, uh, you know, licensed people to contract manufacturer their products, there's just a lot more brands, a lot more products, a lot more selection. So I think over time, there's going to be people that find their niche of where they want to, where they want to play. Right. I think both at the very beginning, if you, you know, you had good flour, everything just sold, um, just because you had in not many people do, but obviously over time, it just, it's going to get much more competitive. So you see people, you know, going like, am I going to be an ultra-premium flower? Am I going to be a low cost producer? So you'll see people fit into their categories. And, and then as well, I think customers are just going to get a lot more educated in terms of the products people are buying. I think it'll, you know, we see the trends in places like the, like California, Colorado, Oregon, where people are smoking less they're, you know, they're vaping more or having more edibles, uh, like topicals tinctures that, you know, products like that versus, uh, smoking. So smoking is obviously going down, those other product categories are going up, but I think customers are just going to get a lot more educated and they're going to be smarter about what products and brands they first from. Right. Like looking at, you know, certain turpines that are in one flower versus another, those things are going to be a lot more important over time, uh, versus a customer coming in just saying like, Oh, I've, you know, 15 bucks, what's the highest THC you have.

Speaker 2: 23:29

All right. Yeah, exactly. And, um, how do you think COVID 19 has impacted the evolution of the canvas industry? Like what have you seen other than the virtual inspection? What other things have you seen that have pushed the cannabis industry forward? Honestly, has been

Speaker 3: 23:46

Very, very beneficial. The cannabis industry. I think a lot of places, uh, you know, in Canada and in the U S they are running at a huge loss and having cannabis tax revenue, uh, come in is very important. Like even, you know, even this week, a lot of States, uh, implemented new cannabis, uh, legislation. So I think that's going to be very important. I think a lot of States that were very against cannabis are now going to start looking at different medical programs. And then the States that have medical programs are going to turn wreck just cause they know how much tax revenue they can brand. So I think that's been, you know, very, very important in the cannabis industry. I think it's accelerated a lot of, a lot of growth in policy change and reform over the past few months, which I don't think we would have seen before, even just, you know, technology like we're doing the virtual inspections. That's, that's very big. Like, you know, I wouldn't, I don't think I would have imagined before the government would ever do virtual inspections, but you know, they're doing that right now. So COVID has been definitely beneficial, you know, as a whole, as a customer. But you know, even in terms of my business, like while a lot of people slowed down, couldn't raise capital, we had money. Uh, we, you know, kept, kept building our stores and we got them open like very, very quickly from applying them March 2nd, opening a store in June and store in July. Like I speak to different retailers every day, all over, all over the province. And there were people who applied for licenses. The exact same time I did and are further behind than I am currently when I just applied for my license a month ago.

Speaker 2: 25:16

Wow. Okay. That's interesting. What do you think gives other people like up,

Speaker 3: 25:22

I think just just general knowledge of the industry. It's like once you, once you do it, once you learn a lot, then once you do it again, you improve again. So this is, has been a pretty big evolution of, you know, over the past year of applying for everything. But I think a lot of people just either underestimate the costs and time and, and challenges in the cannabis industry. And this is something I've been living for years. Like there are people I know who come in and they're, they're, they're shocked that they can't open bank accounts. And I was like, why you're shocked. You can't own bank council. Like this is normal, this is normal for us. Right. So I think a lot of people are just very surprised with how challenging it is to, you know, get certain service providers to even work with them, you know, finding locations. Like I spend a lot of time even now educating landlords on the licensing process and, you know, like, can I have someone that I have to convince them that this is legal? Some of them don't even know it's legal, so.

Speaker 2: 26:14

Okay. Interesting. And you're also, I just want to quickly talk about your you're an instructor or professor at, uh, it was at George Brown.

Speaker 3: 26:24

Yeah. So I started, I started originally guest speaking at Ryerson. They have a cannabis class about almost two years ago, I'd say year and a half ago. And George Brown reached out to me about a year ago and they said, Hey, we have this cannabis course. Uh, we ran it for one semester and we need someone, someone new deleted and bring it, bring it back to life essentially. So I thought, you know, my background isn't in teaching, but I thought it would be a good opportunity to invite a lot of the people I've met along my cannabis journey to speak to the class. So the class is essentially me, uh, either interviewing or bring in different guest speakers who are specialists in different areas. So I have lawyers that come in who are, you know, they focus on either like raising capital securities, uh, to cannabis licensing. I have people who are growers come in and talk about cultivation. Uh, lucky, luckily enough, we had Bruce Linton come in a week and a half ago to speak to the class. That was, that was really a, that was really great there, you know, the students were really excited about that. So it's a fun class. And obviously this too is, has changed a lot because now it's virtual as well. Right. This is the first time I'm teaching this class virtually, which is, uh, you know, it's more challenging. I think it's tougher for people who have a lot of, a lot of energy, uh, to get through, you know, to get that through to a class or to get through to whoever's on the other side of the camera. Uh, but it's, you know, it's, it's been fun. The classes, uh, yeah, it's a small class, but it's, uh, it's growing every, every semester and yeah, every semester I bring in new new guest speakers. So it's a lot of fun.

Speaker 2: 27:52

That's great. And, uh, what kind of advice would you offer someone that is opening a retail store? As of right now?

Speaker 3: 28:00

I don't, I think that the community as a whole is very inviting and friendly and collaborative, and I don't think a lot of people take advantage of this. Like I, you know, I'm sure you, you speak to a lot of people as well, and you reach out to people and you explain to them what, what you do. And, you know, there's a lot of cannabis companies obviously listed on the CSE and, you know, I think a lot of them are probably very, very receptive, receptive to talking to you as well. Right. And I think a lot of people don't take advantage of that. You know what I speak to different retailers every day. If they have one store, 10 stores, 20 stores, and a lot of them just aren't speaking other retailers and, you know, just, just being open, right? Like there's a lot of people I speak to who, you know, they've either had problems that I've never experienced and they teach me what they've learned and then vice versa. I give that experience back to them. So I would say in terms of giving advice to different retailers, uh, the first one would just be speak to speak to other people, learn, uh, who the owners are of the stores that are better in your city. Like they're not necessarily competition. I think there's gonna be a lot of consolidation among these retailers in the next, uh, the next one to three years, like last or earlier this week, uh, there was a deal fire and flower bought friendly stranger, um, high tide and Metta, those two companies, uh, you know, one acquired the other. So there's a lot of big deals happening in cannabis retail right now. So I don't think, uh, people should be shy or, you know, not want to talk to other competitor stores in their area. I speak to all of them. I want to know what they're doing. I want to know who these people are. Um, so that's the first piece of advice. And the second one would just be to be aware of all of the costs of opening up a store. I think a lot of people at the very beginning didn't realize how long it was going to take to open up your store. Like, do you have to be aware of, you know, it could take you a year. You, you know, if you factor in your app to spend a year of rent a year of insurance, a year of utilities, TMOs, a lot of people don't factor that in. I see some of these business plans from, uh, some of these retailers and they expect to open in two months and then I'm like, you're not going to open in two months, you know? So I think people just need to be a lot more realistic and conscious of the costs involved with opening up a store.

Speaker 2: 30:04

Great. Well, thank you so much for that insight. And thank you so much for speaking with me today. Um, I'm grace from the CSC, and this is Chris Jones from cannabis express. And thank you for joining us. Thanks grace.[inaudible]

Speaker 1: 30:28

Hey, it's James here reminding you that if you just enjoyed this episode of hashtag finance, there's a lot more, make sure to subscribe to this show available on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and now I heart radio. Also, if you like video, please join us on CSE, TV on YouTube, or you'll find more exclusive series content like mining over Canada and the aftermarket show that CSE TV on YouTube. Thank you for listening.