City council expected to approve another two cannabis stores on Tuesday

Dec 17, 2018 | 4:15 PM

KAMLOOPS — Two more private cannabis stores are expected to get the green light by city council on Tuesday, which would bring the total number of shops in Kamloops to seven. 

There is one applicant hoping to open a store in the 600 block of Victoria Street near the Noble Pig. The other is on Tranquille Road at the old JJ’s Shoe Repair store. With five stores already approved, and two more potentially going ahead on Tuesday, the city says its work prior to legalization in October has helped to speed up the process. 

“The biggest thing is we were pre-zoned. We knew exactly where these stores could go,” says the city’s business license inspector Dave Jones. “Whereas other communities, they hadn’t zoned any areas. They’re going through development processes, re-zoning processes, so that makes it a little tougher for people wanting to come in and locate stores.”

Jones, who is part of the Joint Provincial-Local Government Committee on Cannabis Regulation, says the demand is not only widespread in Kamloops but across the province as well.