Spiritleaf hits 100 stores

Cannabis retail chain Spiritleaf is the first retailer in Canada to open 100 stores.

They celebrated the 100th store milestone with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Spiritleaf South Keys store, located in the south end of Ottawa.

“It’s an amazing achievement for our trailblazing community,” says president and CEO Darren Bondar.

“That growth trajectory has been tremendous, and we have such respect and gratitude for our franchise partners and all the Spritleaf staff for making this happen. It’s a testament to our collective passion, dedication and energy that we have reached this milestone.”

  • RELATED: Q&A with Spiritleaf CEO Darren Bondar

Vernon’s Spiritleaf franchise was the first brick-and-mortar cannabis store to open in the Okanagan Valley. It just celebrated its second anniversary on July 1.

There are four Spiritleaf locations in the Okanagan—Vernon, Kelowna, West Kelowna, and Penticton. All are franchises owned by different area residents.

Spiritleaf opened its first store in October 2018.

Across Canada, Spiritleaf now has 101 stores, a mix of franchises and corporate locations.

They’re currently operating in 55 cities throughout six provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Newfoundland and Labrador).

“In just 33 months since legalization, we’ve opened more than 100 corporate and franchise stores from coast to coast across the country, which is one new store about every 10 days,” says Bondar.

More than three million people buy weed from Spiritleaf stores over a year, with more than $100 million in sales.

• VIDEO: What’s in store at Spiritleaf West Kelowna

“When Spiritleaf opens a store, it creates new jobs and business prospects in the local community. The benefits range from store management and staff positions to more work for suppliers, contractors and construction crews,” says Bondar.

Spiritleaf is giving away commemorative #100 pins to the first 100 guests at all of its stores this weekend.

The Spiritleaf Collective customer benefits program recently surpassed 310,000 members.

GTEC to become Avant Brands

The Kelowna company behind the popular BLK MKT and Tenzo brands is rebranding from GTEC to Avant Brands.

It has also received approval to list on the TSX, starting July 12—the trading symbols are “AVNT” and “AVNT.W,” respectively.

“Graduating to the TSX highlights our growth and ability to execute. Since 2017, we have demonstrated our commitment to providing industry-leading, innovative products while never compromising the quality or consistency that we are known for,” says Norton Singhavon, Founder and CEO of the Company.

The TSX is the largest and most senior exchange in Canada, and the third largest in North America after the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq.

“We believe that a TSX listing recognizes our strong commitment to corporate governance and provides us with exposure to a broad new investor base that will enhance the liquidity of our common shares and warrants.”

GTEC says it expects to rebrand to Avant Brands at market open on July 12.

Its new website will be avantbrands.ca.

Its headquarters is in Kelowna, and it has operations elsewhere in BC, as well as in Alberta and Ontario.

GTEC also has medical cannabis brand, GreenTec.

A primer on dry-herb vaping

Dry-herb vaping is a great way to get the tactile experience of handling and inhaling cannabis flower without using combustion.

Here’s a primer on this wonderful way of partaking.

For the uninitiated, dry-herb vaping uses flower, which makes it a fantastic substitute to joints because you still get the tactile experience of using fresh bud. The only other thing you need is a dry-herb vapourizer; they range in price depending on make and features.

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I prefer the Mighty from Storz and Bickel because it has easy to use temperature controls and makes fantastic vapour clouds.

Think of it like a little oven. You fill the chamber with a nice pinch of herb and turn it on to heat it up. You can control the temperature either with on-screen controls or through a browser that enables Bluetooth connections. (App stores have banned vape apps, but that’s a whole other topic.)

The vape allows you to raise the temperature by degrees, thereby vapourizing the bud’s cannabinoids and terpenes—a.k.a. the good stuff. I like to start at 175F for those smooth hits and slowly raise it to 200F which feels more like smoking.

Not only do you avoid combustion with dry-herb vaping, but also get more of the unique flavours; it’s especially fun when you have a notably flavourful cultivar. Look for strains that have names that appeal to your taste buds—might I suggest Sage N’ Sour, Blueberry Seagal or BC Black Cherry.

If you do want to try dry-herb vaping but don't know where to start or have questions, don't hesitate to email me at david@okanaganz.com.

Quick hits

Kiss Gummies by THC BioMed

Have you ever had an awkward make-out partner?

THC Kiss Gummies are like that—an experience that should be enjoyable, but leaves you feeling kinda icky.

Opening up the package, four gummies all melted into one tumbled out. They ripped apart with a bit of force, stretching like putty.

They’re initially alluring with a nice strawberry smell.

Then the Kiss touches your mouth… bland and bitter. It takes a lot of chewing to break it down.

Produced by Kelowna-based THC BioMed, there is 2.5mg of THC in each gummy. The THC is extracted from THC BioMed's Sativa Landrace strain.

The effect is decent; however, these gummies are more like kissing grandma than a lover.

At least they’re cheap at $3.99.

— David Wylie

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