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Ontario cannabis stores ordered closed

Ontario issued an order that all of its 51 cannabis stores must close effective April 5th for a minimum 14-day period, after retail cannabis stores were removed from the government’s list of essential businesses. This list of Ontario’s essential services was greatly reduced in an effort to curb the outbreak of COVID-19.

Ontario has 4,347 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and has had 132 deaths as of April 6, 2020. Numbers increased rapidly last week, as the province had 1,706 cases on March 30 and Ontario issues a second emergency alert.

Canna Cabana closed it locations in Hamilton, Sudbury, and Toronto. Raj Grover, president & CEO of High Tide Inc, says, “To mitigate the economic headwinds being caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are optimizing staffing levels across the organization, working with landlords to abate or defer rent, minimizing operating expenses, and delaying capital expenditures wherever possible. Despite the temporary forced closures in Ontario, our 27 other retail cannabis stores across Alberta and Saskatchewan remain open for the time being, while Grasscity.com has recently experienced a doubling of its average weekly sales as people around the world are increasingly shopping online from the safety of their homes for their smoking accessories and cannabis lifestyle products.”

Tags: Canna Cabana (23), COVID-19 (45), High Tide (33), Ontario Cannabis stores (16), Raj Grover (31)