Cannabis shops in Waterloo Region

[taylortbb]

https://twitter.com/alexkinsella/status/...92777?s=19

Yet another cannabis shop in DTK, this time in the former Wine Rack. I believe this takes us to 8 in DTK (assuming they all open).

[Acitta]

https://twitter.com/alexkinsella/status/...92777?s=19

Yet another cannabis shop in DTK, this time in the former Wine Rack. I believe this takes us to 8 in DTK (assuming they all open).

The Wine Rack closed? It is a good thing that I quit drinking. I liked that place because it was open to 11.

[taylortbb]

The Wine Rack closed? It is a good thing that I quit drinking. I liked that place because it was open to 11.

The LCBO killed it. It worked when there was only a run down LCBO over on the other side of the tracks, but once there was a nice LCBO in DTK I'm not surprised people switched to shopping there.

[ac3r]

I had no idea they closed either. Never seemed like a popular store for wine because the selection was pretty small, but I agree with Acitta, it had useful hours.

[dtkvictim]

Seems like the former Shakedown location will be yet another cannabis shop.

[panamaniac]

What’s that for DTK, 23?

[taylortbb]

The previously discussed 325 King St E is still for sale (https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/...5#pid90875 for context), but that hasn't stopped there from being another cannabis license application for the property.

This one at least kind of makes sense as it's a bit of a distance from the rest of them. The nearest one is up at Queen St, which isn't that far, bur much further than being on the same block.

   

[ac3r]

'It's a lot of one thing': 11 cannabis retailers open — or in progress — in downtown Kitchener: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener...-1.6227354

[clasher]

Lol what a silly thing to even think about, either there's enough demand to support the stores or "the problem" will solve itself. Somehow most of the cafes in DTK manage to survive, are we gonna start having 500m between cafes too?

[ijmorlan]

Lol what a silly thing to even think about, either there's enough demand to support the stores or "the problem" will solve itself. Somehow most of the cafes in DTK manage to survive, are we gonna start having 500m between cafes too?

Indeed. The “shoe event horizon” is not generally a thing in real life.

[Acitta]

Lol what a silly thing to even think about, either there's enough demand to support the stores or "the problem" will solve itself. Somehow most of the cafes in DTK manage to survive, are we gonna start having 500m between cafes too?

Cafés sell a wider range of products. They sell food. Different ones sell different food. Cannabis shops are all selling the same product. The more stores selling the same product in the same area means less space for other kinds of retailers. Downtown needs a variety of shops. People may not want to go downtown to shop because "there is nothing there but pot shops."

[dtkvictim]

Lol what a silly thing to even think about, either there's enough demand to support the stores or "the problem" will solve itself. Somehow most of the cafes in DTK manage to survive, are we gonna start having 500m between cafes too?

Cafés sell a wider range of products. They sell food. Different ones sell different food. Cannabis shops are all selling the same product. The more stores selling the same product in the same area means less space for other kinds of retailers. Downtown needs a variety of shops. People may not want to go downtown to shop because "there is nothing there but pot shops."

That implies that the pot shops are out competing other types of stores. The alternative may be that people don't go downtown to shop because there are no shops.

[nms]

Or, cannabis shops feel that they have a high (ha!) enough profit margin to be able to afford the Uptown and Downtown rents that in some cases appear to be out of touch with the actual amount of foot traffic that is in a given block. This is the same reason that restaurants can afford downtown rents, but other types of retail stores cannot: restaurants have higher inventory turnover in a day whereas a store may not.

[Acitta]

Cafés sell a wider range of products. They sell food. Different ones sell different food. Cannabis shops are all selling the same product. The more stores selling the same product in the same area means less space for other kinds of retailers. Downtown needs a variety of shops. People may not want to go downtown to shop because "there is nothing there but pot shops."

That implies that the pot shops are out competing other types of stores. The alternative may be that people don't go downtown to shop because there are no shops.

Would you expect to see 11 barber shops or 11 shoe stores in the downtown? People drink a lot of alcoholic beverages, but there doesn't seem to a demand for more than one LCBO and one beer store downtown. Even the wine store closed because of the competition. I don't see a lot of people going into these cannabis shops. I bet that one or two could handle the business quite well, especially since they are all getting their products from the same source.

[taylortbb]

Would you expect to see 11 barber shops or 11 shoe stores in the downtown?

I think there might be 11 hair cutting places in DTK, so not really a great comparison.

For beer and LCBO, they're monopolies, they have no need to proliferate as people will go to their stores regardless. If we had open liquor retailing I'm sure there'd be more than two in DTK.

In any case, I think you're missing the point. It's not that I think 11 cannabis stores is viable in DTK, it's that I don't think the city should interfere. The good ones will succeed, the crappy ones will fail, and we'll be left with a few good stores. If there was a 500m rule we'd be left with whichever two got to DTK first, and they'd have no incentive to do better as they'd have a protected monopoly.

I think most of the weed stores would otherwise be empty storefronts, so there's no harm to the public from a temporary over supply.