Last week, Spiritleaf, one of Canada’s largest cannabis retailers, held a grand opening for one of three new stores scheduled to open in Winnipeg.
“Our goal has always been to serve communities across Canada wherever we can,” says Darren Bondar, President and CEO of Spiritleaf. “We have been waiting patiently to bring Spiritleaf to Manitoba and we are thrilled to finally open our first store in Winnipeg. With three more locations also set to open in the city soon, we’re excited to put down roots here and deliver the same premium retail cannabis experience to Manitobans that our guests have come to expect from Spiritleaf.”
The first location is situated on the west side of the city, with subsequent locations in the eastern and southern areas.
“We’ve already received lots of buzz around the store—customers have even been trying to come in with contractors and knocking on the door to ask when we are open,” says Travis Kelsch, Manager of Spiritleaf Unicity.
According to Bondar, Spiritleaf has nearly surpassed 100 stores across six provinces. He says that in the near future, the company is focused on serving local communities through their corporate-owned and franchised stores as well as growing here in Canada.
The new Spiritleaf stores bring Winnipeg’s store count up to 55 in the city of around 750,000 people.
“The community is ready for more cannabis retail stores and Spiritleaf is excited to provide the customer experience they have become known for,” says the company’s press release.
Data released in May shows that in March 2020, when there were 49 stores in Winnipeg, each was making an average of $164,000 per month—not too shabby for a province with a moderately low cost to do business, but the monthly average is down from around $200,000 the month before.