On Friday The Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC) placed its first purchase orders for 3,750 kg’s of recreational cannabis. The NSLC anticipates it will order around a total of 5,000 kg’s in year one. The product mix will consist of 282 cannabis products and 21 accessories.
No MOU’s
The NSLC did not sign MOU’s with the suppliers, giving the province the ability adjust the products it carries based on customer preference. With this move the NSLC is taking a ‘see as we go’ approach which doesn’t make for a great headline for the chosen LP’s, but is a more pragmatic approach. LP’s have a habit of banging the drum about the volume of cannabis they’re able to allocate to these provincial MOU’s, and this may represent NS is making it clear that they don’t carry water for LPs.
“The strains and amounts have been selected based on a number of criteria including relevant sales data from the recreational and medical cannabis markets in Canada and the United States, product availability and the suppliers’ ability to provide us with a continuous supply.” – NSLC
The NSLC has placed orders with 14 companies:
- Aphria
- Aurora
- CannTrust
- Canopy
- Peace Naturals Project
- Humble & Fume
- MedReleaf
- OrganiGram
- Zenabis
- TerrAscend
- Tilray
- The Flowr Group
- 7ACRES/Supreme
- Up Cannabis
- WeedMD
Retail locations
In May the NSLC released its design mock ups for 12 provincially run Cannabis retail stores to be located in population hubs across the province. Home delivery of online orders will be available through the NSLC website. With a population of 953,000 people this averages out to one store per 79,417 people.
The stores have a modern design with exposed wood, open spaces, bright lighting and stylish fonts and color schemes, this differs greatly from how dispensaries looked only a few years ago.
NSLC locations:
- NSLC cannabis retail locations:
- Amherst Mall, Amherst
- Antigonish
- Dufferin St., Bridgewater
- Portland Street, Dartmouth
- Joseph Howe Drive, Halifax
- Clyde Street,Halifax
- Downsview Plaza in Lower Sackville
- New Minas
- Sydney River
- Prince Street in Truro
- Yarmouth
- East Side New Glasgow
(Featured image of Nova Scotia courtesy flickr user Dennis Jarvis.)