The odds of Barrie landing a cannabis store by April keep taking a hit.

Locations have been selected by four of the five East Region retail store applicants, according to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. While their preferred sites are still in the public notice stage, Pure Alpha Holdings and Patterson and Lavoie selected Ottawa for their first locations, and Daniel Telio and Brandon Long chose Kingston.

That leaves Karan Someshwar as the only retail operator who has yet to select a site. Simcoe.com was unable to contact Someshwar, and the AGCO says it’s unclear when the East’s final first-round location will be chosen.

Stores are supposed to open April 1.

“There is no deadline, per se,” AGCO spokesperson Raymond Kahnert said Feb. 20. “It is the applicant that chooses the location within an eligible community — not the AGCO. The applicant’s location has not been submitted and therefore is not at the public notice stage.”

Under provincial rules, only 25 retail cannabis stores are permitted across the province during the first round of openings. Each region — East, Greater Toronto Area, North, Toronto and West — has been allocated shops. But only municipalities with a population of at least 50,000 can apply for a store during the first round of provincewide openings.

In the East, the cities of Barrie, Belleville, Kawartha Lakes, Kingston, Ottawa and Peterborough qualify.

Only 14 retail store sites had been chosen across the province as of Wednesday afternoon. Based the list of sites on the AGCO website, the closest locations for Barrie residents to purchase retail cannabis in person would be in Brampton and Toronto.

Last month, Barrie council voted unanimously in favour of allowing retail cannabis stores to set up within the city.

“Permitting provincially-licensed cannabis retailers may reduce the illegal sales and the associated negative behaviours and activities that often accompany them,” community and corporate services general manager Dawn McAlpine said in a January staff report on the matter. “Municipalities that permit cannabis retail sales are far more likely to have the ability to influence future legislation, including locational and operating criteria for establishments.”