New cannabis store slated for Midland in next few months

Midland could have its first cannabis store this summer.

The Friendly Stranger Cannabis Culture Shop is in the process of finalizing the opening of a local location on Bay Street.

“We’ve been looking at that site for awhile,” said James Jesty, president of the Friendly Stranger Holdings Corp.

While the company has held the lease on the location for close to a year, Jesty noted the company already operates a store in town under its Happy Dayz banner.

“We kind of know that market and know it’s probably good for a cannabis store or two,” he said, pointing out the Friendly Stranger isn’t new to the retail game, having been a staple on Toronto’s Queen Street for close to 25 years.

A notice about the planned Midland store has been affixed to a store window for weeks and soon the company will hear about any public input related to their Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) application.

“We’ll reply back to AGCO (with answers) to any questions the community may have,” he said, noting that once that process is completed they can get the location “retail ready” to welcome customers. “There are so many moving parts. We're probably three or four months away, on the optimistic side."

Jesty said he expects the store will have between 10 to 15 full-time employees once it’s up and running in the next few months. As well, more employees might be needed during the seasonal boating/cottager/tourist season.

“We could scale it up for the summer season,” Jesty said. “The store will still carry the full selection of accessories as well as obviously the cannabis.”

Because they’re a private entity, Jesty said he’d prefer not to say how much of an investment they're putting into the Midland shop.

They will, however, have a grand opening “that will depend largely on timing.”

“We’re very dialed into making our stores part of the community,” he said.

And while the company has temporarily closed its Happy Dayz locations in Barrie and Orillia to convert them to allow for selling cannabis, the Midland store will remain just an accessory/paraphernalia operation for the time being.

“We may down the road put cannabis in it,” he said, adding they decided to leave the Barrie and Orillia stores as Happy Dayz locations rather than converting them to the Friendly Stranger moniker.

“We have a lot of brand equity built up in those markets.”

And while some businesses might be worried about the impact of COVID-19, that doesn’t seem to be the case here.

“We’ve opened three stories in the middle of COVID,” Jesty said, pointing to recent openings of Friendly Stranger locations in London, Burlington and Toronto.

On its website, the company says it wants to connect Canadians through cannabis, to educate and inspire a community of togetherness, to befriend the world one stranger at a time.

“Since 1994, Friendly Stranger has been a champion of cannabis devoted to activism, community and culture. Friendly Stranger is more than a store. It’s a place for those seeking a positive cannabis environment that inspires unity, advocacy, and acceptance,” the company’s website reads.

“Where others see customers, we see friends. To this day, we continue to promote the environmental and economic benefits of all forms of cannabis while fostering a welcoming and open spirit. The soul of Friendly Stranger is a community brought together by a shared belief and one that grows with every new face that walks through our doors.”