Inner Spirit Holdings Ltd. (CSE: ISH) (OTCQB:INSHF), is establishing a retail cannabis stores network under its Spiritleaf brand. It has opened its 10th corporate-owned retail cannabis store in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada.
The Fort McMurray retail cannabis store is located at the city’s Peter Pond Mall.
In addition, the company said that it has accelerated franchise sales and store development activities in Ontario as a result of the recent announcement by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) that it will start accepting retail operator license applications from prospective retailers in January 2020.
Inner Spirit has more than 20 franchise partners in Ontario ready to advance their licenses once the retail operator license application process opens on Jan. 6, 2020, and the retail store authorizations process opens on March 2, 2020. The company is expected to develop these franchised stores in the coming year as well as open additional corporate-owned stores in Ontario, which are now possible under the province’s proposed new regulatory framework.
“We continue to advance the Company’s growth strategy by opening Spiritleaf cannabis retail stores in areas where permitted by regulation. Opening these locations at this time enables us to participate in the busy holiday shopping season and to take part in the pending rollout of Cannabis 2.0 products,” Inner Spirit President and CEO Darren Bondar said in a statement.
Cannabis 2.0 refers to recreational cannabis products such as concentrates, edibles and infused beverages that will start becoming available in Spiritleaf’s Moose Jaw store and Saskatchewan e-commerce store as early as next week and in other Canadian markets starting in early 2020.
The company has the largest retail cannabis footprint in Canada with Spiritleaf stores open and operating in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario.