Newfoundland’s Atlantic Cannabis has found success with a winning combination of cultivating high-quality cannabis products and cultivating a thriving community of engaged consumers. Atlantic Cannabis (the retail arm of Atlantic Cultivation) shows what can be achieved when provinces support the industry and see the potential for aiding the local economy.
Atlantic Cultivation moved into retail as Atlantic Cannabis after making an agreement with the provincial government of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2019 to help build a locally owned, vibrant, and thriving cannabis industry that was estimated to contribute around $215 million annually to the province’s GDP.
“Atlantic was one of the first licensed producers and the largest employer in the cannabis industry in the province,” says Atlantic Cultivation’s COO Chris Crosbie. “We committed to (and have since built) a 110,000 sq. ft. new-build, state-of-the-art indoor cannabis cultivation, and processing facility that created 117 jobs.”
“Because the provincial government saw the value in licensed producers owning the relationship directly with consumers at retail, Atlantic Cultivation was awarded eight retail licences within the province to help distribute our products we grow and process at home,” explains Crosbie. “We have built a fully vertically integrated cannabis company that has a tremendous relationship with our local community.”
With a focus on terpene-rich and high cannabinoid cultivars, the phenotypes grown by Atlantic Cultivation also lend themselves well to processing into solventless concentrates like full melt bubble hash and hash rosin from fresh frozen flower.
Currently more than 26.5% of all cannabis sales for the entire province are products that Atlantic Cultivation grows and processes in the province and makes available at all the retail locations. The brand has 120 active product SKUs that are manufactured in-house and then direct shipped to retail every week to keep a fresh rotation of product.
Operating a cannabis cultivation facility and opening new stores comes with challenges, but Crosbie believes that investing in local communities is the key to success. He thinks that the regulatory environment has been so prohibitive that tier one financial institutions do not offer traditional financing for entrepreneurs looking to enter the cannabis space and this has led to a large portion of Canadian cannabis consumers feeling disenfranchised and excluded from the opportunity to participate.
“Many of the largest companies in the Canadian cannabis space sought financing through capital markets and they do not have the ability to focus on community and consumers due to the large shareholder base with competing interests compared to those of actual cannabis consumers,” says Crosbie. “I fully believe that cannabis success comes from regional strategies that invest in local cannabis communities.”
This local-first mentality seems to be a major component in the success of the retail brand as it grows across the province and the country. “Day over day, week over week, and month over month, Atlantic Cannabis gains market share in our local community,” says Crosbie. “What we do in Newfoundland and Labrador for our community here has, and will, propel us to be one of the most successful cannabis companies to date, and for the next 100 years.”
The future certainly looks bright for Atlantic Cannabis as the brand continues to expand across the province and beyond, opening more retail outlets to sell a range of products from the vertically integrated brand. Recently the eighth retail location opened in Newfoundland and the team is now looking to open a ninth one located in their cannabis cultivation facility in St John’s.
“We expect our farmgate location to offer an amazing consumer experience, as well as tours of the facility, and consistent sales of living plants,” describes Crosbie. “We expect to hold over 40% market share of all sales in the province, as we also expand our unique, high-quality, properly priced flower and concentrates across Canada.”
With launches coming up in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and other provinces in 2022 and early next year, it won’t be long until Atlantic Cannabis is more like coast-to-coast cannabis.