CALGARY—The dust continues to settle on Calgary’s cannabis retail market, but several major players — including Calgary Co-op — are emerging.

As of Thursday afternoon, the grocery, liquor, and gas station retailer had also received city approval for 11 different cannabis store locations, according to spokesperson Karen Allan. She said two other locations are still awaiting a decision.

It’s difficult to tell which companies will end up securing the most turf in Calgary, especially as city staff continue to sift through applications. Of 260 active ones, 83 had been accepted as of Thursday at noon, according to city figures. Eleven were pending appeal and 61 were been refused. The Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission must also approve operators before they can open.

But Co-op appeared to hold the lead among city approvals for major cannabis store applications in Calgary as of Thursday. Even Jeff Mooij, president of 420 Premium Market, admitted they are a major player.

“There’s no doubt about it,” he said.

420 Premium Market has also staked a large claim on cannabis store locations. The company previously told StarMetro Calgary they’d made a dozen applications, and confirmed on Thursday that seven of their locations had been approved.

“The ones we wanted to get approved, are, so we’re pretty happy with that,” Mooij said. Two other store locations were turned down, but he said 420 Premium Market didn’t expect they’d pass muster with the city.

“I think, eventually, if we get up to 10 in the city, we’ll be happy,” he said.

But another prospective cannabis retailer claimed to already be close to that. NewLeaf Cannabis said 9 of their stores had been approved, and 2 were denied, but Chief Administrative Officer Angus Taylor said they’re hoping to overturn those.

“And there’s a couple we might just not get,” he said, noting they might be too close to other cannabis store locations, which could violate provincial regulations.

Calgary aside, NewLeaf is also waiting to hear back on applications made for locations in other cities.

“We’re still waiting on Medicine Hat, and there’s a couple in Edmonton that are still working their way through the list,” Taylor said. “We think, by the end of next week, we should have a pretty good idea of everything we’re going to get.”

The big retailers expect to lose a couple of stores to the approval process — both by the City of Calgary and the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, which will license store operators. Smaller chains with a handful of stores aren’t so able to lose locations, although several anticipate pulling through.

“They do have more resources, they have more people, and they have a lot more money than I do,” said Vlassis Douvis, owner of Anthos, a single location on Bowness Rd. “But I have something that they don’t — I love my customers, and my customers love me.”

He owned three head shops, called Hemp Roots, but split them up among his family to try and open two cannabis stores. The city turned down one of his applications for a store because, Douvis said, another prospective cannabis retailer got a licence for the building he was hoping to open in.

Douvis said he and several other small-scale cannabis retailers believe the bigger chains are trying to choke them out of business. Several big-chain applications ended up encircling the smaller ones, he said, and many bigger retailers were able to get lower development permit numbers — meaning the city reviewed their applications first.

But Justin Woo, owner of Bud Bar, said smaller chains have their benefits.

“I think our prospects are as good as the chains right now,” he said. “It’s a newer industry. No one has established the winning concept yet, and I think there’s a lot of opportunities for new ideas and thinking outside the box.”

Just one of his three store applications — near 16 Ave. and 4 St. NW — has been approved. One of the others has been rejected, but Woo is currently appealing, and the city hasn’t yet ruled on the third. He said Bud Bar will be OK, even if it only has one store because, unlike some major chains, they didn’t sink a lot of money into securing multi-year leases for storefronts before getting approved.

“We’ve given (our landlords) a deposit — first and last month’s rent — but if we don’t get our licence, then we’re not on the hook for the five-year lease,” Woo said.

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Despite the difficulties faced by small cannabis retailers, Douvis said he has personal connections with many of the customers at his Hemp Roots head shops which puts him at an advantage over big chains. And Woo acknowledged that running a smaller operation made him nimbler when it came to finding a landlord.

Jonathan Denis, a partner with Guardian Law Group and director of the Canadian Cannabis Chamber, said big chains and small stores can each play their own role in Calgary. He used private liquor stores as an example: while Liquor Depot is a chain, specialty stores such as Willow Park Wine and Spirits are renowned for their connections to local communities.

“I definitely think there’s room for both in the marketplace, but at the same time, that’s going to be up to the consumer to decide,” Denis said.

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