You'd be no April Fool to bet legal cannabis retail outlets won't be open in Hamilton next week.

Two applicants, Hello Cannabis Store in Dundas and Canna Cabana Hamilton in the east end, say they're working day and night to meet the province's April 1 deadline.

But both say they won't make it.

"We want to manage expectations and people should not expect us to open April 1," said Stephen Verbeek, a consultant helping the Dundas store owner launch the business.

April 20 is a more realistic goal, suggested Verbeek, but he acknowledged even that seems a "stretch" given the work that's still ahead.

Steven Fry, the Canna Cabana applicant, says his store at the Centre on Barton won't be open April 1 either.

"I have a firm commitment to be open by April 20, as well."

Fry says he and his crosstown competitor aren't alone in their scramble. He expects "maybe a handful" of Ontario's first 25 legal operators will open April 1.

As of Monday evening, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission website showed 10 applicants had received operating licences.

Among them is RELM Cannabis Co., in a Burlington commercial plaza at Fairview Street and Walkers Line. The windows were blacked out and doors shut Monday.

An AGCO spokesperson wouldn't say how many operators it expects will meet the deadline, which the government doesn't plan to change.

If they don't open on time, the terms of their agreement with the AGCO allow the regulator to draw upon $50,000 letters of credit. That's $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.

"The AGCO clearly expressed that only those who were committed and in a realistic position to meet that timeline should participate in the Expression of Interest," spokesperson Raymond Kahnert wrote in an email Monday.

Fry says he doesn't dispute this. "That's the process I signed up for and those are the rules of the game."

But the McMaster University business grad described the effort to meet the AGCO's requirements as a sprint to the finish line. "I've certainly been learning throughout this process."

The 15-day public notice period for Fry's application has finished. Now he must provide the AGCO with responses to those comments and still awaits site inspections.

The interior of the former chicken wing restaurant at the Barton Street East shopping plaza was demolished over the weekend. Monday was the first day of renovations.

Fry said he's spent more than $1 million to prepare the roughly 2,400-square-foot space for business.

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Verbeek said he and his team are readying the 57 Cootes Dr. store in Dundas, a former LCBO outlet, for owner Santino J. Coppolino.

Once that's done, the local entrepreneur whose resumé includes an arborist business and hot air balloon venture, and his son, Oliver, will operate the cannabis store, Verbeek said.

The public notice period for their application ends Wednesday.

Verbeek, a local entrepreneur, runs a medicinal marijuana education centre in a former KFC outlet next to the future retail shop, also called Hello Cannabis.

He expects the recreational retail store will employ around 20 people and perhaps more depending on demand.

But Verbeek is under no illusion Hamilton's two legal pot outlets will put rogue merchants out of business.

"I suspect eliminating the black market is going to be a very uphill battle, but I think it's inevitable that eventually it will be eliminated."

More than 80 illegal dispensaries sold weed in Hamilton at the underground market's zenith before weed became legal across Canada on Oct. 17.

Many have been shuttered, 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.

tmoro@thespec.com

905-526-3264 | @TeviahMoro

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