B.C.’s fourth private nonmedical cannabis licensed retailer is a self-described ‘mom and pop shop’ in Kitsilano. Evergreen Cannabis will also

B.C.’s fourth private nonmedical cannabis licensed retailer is a self-described ‘mom and pop shop’ in Kitsilano.

Evergreen Cannabis will also become the first provincially licensed cannabis outlet in Vancouver when it opens in a few days.

The store at 2868 West 4th Avenue is owned by the husband and wife team of Mike Babins and Maria Petrucci.

There have been 103 applications in Greater Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast, according to the B.C. government website.

Evergreen Cannabis has also obtained approval from the city.

Babin, a former radio deejay in Montreal, and his wife ran a clean and comfortable shop with floor-to-ceiling windows. This was done to enhance transparency before they closed their doors during the provincial licensing process.

In the past, Evergreen sourced products from growers who didn’t use pesticides. Its website focused a great deal of attention on the risks of cannabis.

As a provincial licensee, Evergreen will soon be selling pot obtained through the Liquor Distribution Branch, which has a monopoly on the legal wholesale market.

‘We want to be the dispensary that we wanted to go to,’ Babins told the Straight last year. ‘We’re the grown-up dispensary. We don’t have neon pot-leaf signs in our window.’

Two of the provinces’ three other licensed retail outlets are in Kimberley. The third is the Weed Mart in Pouce Coupe.