Yellowknife's only retail cannabis store sells out — again
Business remains steady 1 day after legalization, supply ran out before 8 p.m.
Yellowknife residents who missed purchasing legal cannabis at the city's only brick-and-mortar store will likely have to wait a few more days — the store's supply of cannabis ran out Thursday evening.
At 8 p.m., an employee who answered the The Liquor Shop's store's main number said the store had sold out of cannabis. Earlier in the day, owner Edward Eggenberger said he didn't expect it to last until Friday morning. New stock likely won't be available until Saturday or early next week.
Business was slower but still steady on Thursday compared to the long lineups and crowds that gathered at the store on legalization day on Wednesday, Eggenberger said.
"We're selling everything out," he said.
Shortly after noon Thursday, about four customers gathered around the cannabis display case asking store employee about the brands on sale. Business remained steady throughout the day, Eggenberger said.
The shortage in Yellowknife is part of a general supply issue at legal cannabis outlets across Canada over the first two days of legalization.
Potential supply issues had previously been predicted, with the CEO of supplier Canopy Growth Corp. (one of the N.W.T.'s suppliers) telling CBC News the market isn't clear enough to risk a glut of unused supply, while not yet being nimble enough to meet demand for the most popular products.
30 kg supply for N.W.T.
The territorial government — the only legal supplier of cannabis in the Northwest Territories — purchased 30 kilograms worth of cannabis products in anticipation of legalization. CBC News contacted a government spokesman to discuss how much of that has been sold so far, but has not yet received an answer.
Eggenberger said he couldn't provide figures for exactly how much cannabis his store sold over the first two days.
Though it's unclear how much legal cannabis was sold Wednesday and Thursday, government officials previously said they expect the territory to consume about 1,000 kilograms of legal cannabis per year, based on a quarter of the population smoking one joint per day.