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He says his 5 Buds store will open in Warman on Nov. 30, while the Battleford store will open before Jan. 31, followed by the opening of the Yorkton store in April.

“Nothing that I do, as an operator of three retail stores, is going to sway an LP to compete with an entire government,” Tyacke said.

Natasha Waldbauer, owner of The Cannabis Co. YQR, said she had hoped to open on Oct. 17 but waiting for city approval of zoning bylaws and supply issues resulted in delays. Her store opened its doors on Nov. 10.

“Supply has definitely been a challenge,” she said.

“We were lucky enough to be able to secure some supply, and we didn’t want to keep Regina waiting anymore.”

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Jerome Konecsni, an executive-in-residence at the University of Saskatchewan’s Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, said he’s “not totally surprised” by the small number of pot shops open in the province.

“It’s hard to get clear answers on why that is,” he said. “I don’t think there’s one single answer that says: here’s why they’re not open yet.”

Konecsni said the lack of supply and a desire by LPs to give contracts to larger retailers is just part of the problem. Another issue is that no one knew how much demand there would be for cannabis once it was legalized.

By most available accounts across the country, demand was high.

Quebec’s Crown cannabis corporation reported more than 12,500 in-store transactions and 30,000 online orders, which “far” exceeded expectations. The Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation said it conducted 12,810 transactions totalling more than $660,000 in sales, around seven per cent of which were online. In Alberta, the government-run website processed 8,300 orders by mid-afternoon on the first day. In Ontario, there was such a high number of online orders — 38,000 in the first 24 hours — that deliveries were expected to take up to five days, up from the initial target of one to three days. Approximately 10,000 orders were placed in British Columbia on the first day, according to a B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch spokeswoman.