The area's first legal pot shop opened to a line of customers at 9 a.m. Monday in a Burlington commercial plaza at Fairview Street and Walkers Line.

RELM Cannabis Co., at 103-4031 Fairview St., is the only area store to meet the April 1 deadline for Ontario's first 25 legal operators to set up shop.

"We didn't waste any time," said David Nguyen, president of RELM. "I got a crew together and we just went at it."

Neither of Hamilton's two operations will be opening their doors on Monday. Hello Cannabis Store in Dundas and Canna Cabana Hamilton in the east end have said their shops likely won't be ready until April 20.

The status of both Hamilton applications on the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) website is listed as "public notice period ended." The next steps include providing the regulator with the public responses and site inspections for the locations at 57 Cootes Dr. and 1317 Barton St. E., at the Centre on Barton.

In fact, less than half of the operations selected by lottery in January have been issued a licence by the province as of Sunday.

Of the 10 authorized to open, the other stores close to Hamilton are The Niagara Herbalist at 33 Lakeshore Rd. in St. Catharines, Ganjika House at 186 Main St. S. in Brampton and two in Toronto — Ameri at 20 Cumberland St. and The Hunny Pot Cannabis Co. at 202 Queen St. W.

The rest are in London, Kingston and Ottawa.

"I'm ecstatic," Nguyen said on the eve of the opening. "I expect it to be very busy seeing as it's one of the first to open."

RELM opened its doors early on Monday to accommodate the predicted crowds. It will normally operate daily from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. in a store with more than 4,600 square feet of retail space and on-site parking.

A description of the store says its clean design lines are meant to accentuate the professionalism and open-concept atmosphere.

Nguyen said customers are "going to get an extensive selection of cannabis products, they're going to meet a lot educators like budtenders and good service and support that is unrivalled at the retail level."

Those not opening Monday risk having the AGCO draw upon their $50,000 letters of credit. The penalty is $12,500 for the first day without sales, an additional $12,500 if stores still aren't open April 15, and $25,000 more at the end of the month.

Until now, Hamilton has been known for its illegal marijuana dispensaries, with as many as 80 stores operating outside of the law at its height. To put it in perspective, there were more pot shops than Tim Hortons in Hamilton.

Some of the dispensaries closed voluntarily ahead of cannabis becoming legal across Canada on Oct. 17, because of the potential for stiff penalties or because they hoped to apply for a licence to operate legally.

Police have cracked down on the holdouts, but some now sell to customers via a delivery-based model.

Premier Doug Ford's government opted to initially limit the rollout of Ontario's legal retailers to 25 stores due to concerns over product supply.

RELM is Nguyen's first business and he has no previous experience in the cannabis industry.

"I have a lot of friends who are entrepreneurs and they've already been helping me," he said.

With files from Teviah Moro

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