Kamloops city staff say local cannabis stores with more investors are generally having to wait longer for licenses from the province.
The city’s business license inspector Dave Jones says the province has to check every investor involved in owning a cannabis store.
“Some of these bigger stores will have a larger number of investors, and each one of those investors needs to be checked as well. So I would say for the most part, anybody that has more than a couple people involved, it’s taken a bit more time. But I would say that the province is doing its due diligence,” Jones says.
“I think about September, (the province) looked at their process, they made a few changes to help out the small business man to get that license approved in principle and get it issued. So then it’s left up to the business venture to go through the building permits and any local government requirements.”
There are six private retail cannabis stores open in Kamloops, and as of Wednesday three government stores. There are 23 retail stores that are looking to open altogether.
Jones says about 20 should be open by the end of this calendar year.