The lines might be a bit shorter, but the excitement surrounding cannabis legalization remains high at Eden, one of the first stores open in Saskatchewan.
“The energy itself has been a lot more relaxed,” said Ashley Kilback with Eden. “I think a lot of people just wanted to let that chaos happen yesterday and today we have people coming in wanting more of that relaxed experience. So, people are coming in at a good pace but nothing like yesterday.”
But while a relaxed atmosphere may have fewer people, it also has a lower selection.
“We went through, I’m going to say at least two-thirds of our product, so we did clean house quite a bit yesterday,” Kilback said.
The RM of Edenwold saw a spike in economic activity on legalization day. But with no stores ready to open their doors, Regina didn’t see the same boost.
“It certainly had an impact on Edenwold, but not Regina,” said John Hopkins with the Regina and District Chamber of Commerce. “But, people driving from Regina to go buy cannabis, I think there was an impact there.”
With only seven of 51 licenses handed out by the province before Oct. 17, the chamber says any initial economic stimulation will be minimal — and they don’t know the extent of any long-term impact.
“We’re going to see a lot of jobs, legal jobs now that will come from the cannabis industry,” Hopkins said. “If we get production, maybe that will change. We have a lot of expertise in crop here.”
Eden is still receiving shipments and the company is confident it will have plenty of product to meet any demand heading into the weekend.
