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Nearly six months after Canada legalized pot, people in Ottawa will be able to walk into three stores on Monday and buy some.

The shops in the ByWard Market, Centretown and Wellington West Village are among only a handful that will open across the province.

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The province had wanted 25 cannabis stores to open by April 1, but many won’t be ready on time.

Ontario residents have been able to buy online at the Ontario Cannabis Store since Canada legalized recreational marijuana on Oct. 17. But bricks-and-mortar shops will bring the still-novel experience of legally purchasing weed to another level.

Expect lineups.

Photo by Jean Levac / Postmedia News

The proprietors of Superette on Wellington Street West have promised a staffer will monitor whether customers are blocking the entrances of neighbouring businesses or parking illegally on adjoining streets.

At Fire & Flower York Street Cannabis in the ByWard Market, plans are afoot to entertain people waiting for the doors to open Monday morning with games and prizes. They expect a flood of customers from nearby Gatineau, because there are no bricks-and-mortar stores there yet.