He said they hope to put their indoor growing facility outside of Amherst in Lorain County to be close to their Canadian operations.

RELATED: Ohio to buy $6 million seed-to-sale marijuana tracking system

Cacciavillani said his company — which operates in Canada and Florida, and is setting up operations in Arizona — partnered with the Schottenstein family because of its knowledge of the retail industry and familiarity with the Ohio market.

“Combined, we could be a really strong entity,” he said.

Messages left for a spokesman of the Schottenstein Store Corporation were not returned.

Aphria is one of several major players in the North American medical marijuana market looking to stake a claim in Ohio, where nearly a quarter of the state’s 11.6 million residents could qualify to receive medical cannabis.

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