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At least to start, the Hunny Pot is heavily leaning toward the second option. Brown says the store may decide to order less than 25 per cent of the products that will be made available on Dec. 16 after a 60-day moratorium begins. The Hunny Pot doesn’t know what these products will taste like or how they’ll be received — no one does — and so they’ll be forced to be agile and adapt quickly to customer preferences.

Photo by Peter J Thompson/National Post

“We’re going to have to evolve on a weekly basis,” Brown said. “You’ll know very quickly what’s moving, what’s not and what’s going to continue to sell.”

The rotation system that the Hunny Pot and other retailers are planning to implement won’t flatter licensed producers. Unlike in the alcohol industry, regulations stipulate that producers cannot buy shelf space and can have no influence on where their product is displayed — or if it’s stocked at all.

Not wanting to overwhelm retailers, producers are staggering the release of new products.

Canopy Growth Corp. president Rade Kovacevic said the company has 50 new products in its pipeline but is planning to have what he would only describe as a “core part of the portfolio” available in December, with the rest hitting shelves over the six months that follow.

Photo by Tony Caldwell/Postmedia

At OrganiGram Holdings Inc., CEO Greg Engel is planning a similar approach that will see vaporizers and vape pens available on Day One, cannabis-infused chocolate during the first quarter of 2020 and a dry powder beverage in the second quarter. The company is only planning to have 24 SKUs.