As the Oct. 17 date of the legalization of cannabis draws closer, business is getting ready to boom in Westlock, but not everyone is high on the idea.
The owner and proprietor of Westlock’s first proposed cannabis retail shop, Harvest Country Cannabis Store, Joe Renaud, said he plans to set up the store to help stimulate the downtown area.
Renaud is a long-time local businessman who, though now technically retired, has been in the retail business over 50 years. He said he got bored in his retirement and seeing as his expertise is retail, he approached the new venture as he would any other.
“I know that downtown has struggled and several of us have tried to keep it alive for the last 30 to 40 years and I’m thinking this could be another draw to downtown to get some traffic in and get some movement. When I’m downtown on a Saturday, there’s no cars there,” said Renaud, who operated Home Hardware for decades.
Dale Ehmler owns The Outback Western Wear and Tack store two doors down from the potential location of Harvest Country, which still has to be approved by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission and must still be granted a retail sales licence by the town, before an expected October opening.
To say Ehmler is opposed would be an understatement.
“I’m against it in the first place, I don’t think it’s good for the community. I really don’t think this should be downtown, for two reasons. We have kids down here and I honestly don’t know how they’re going to control the crime rate. We’ve got it bad enough in this town as it is,” said Ehmler, adding he is concerned about potential break-ins at his store and his neighbours’.
Other businesses on the block expressed similar concerns, but would not go on the record.
Ehmler said the store has been the worst kept secret in town for two months.
He suggested the new store set up shop out on the highway instead, away from children and downtown shoppers.
That’s exactly what Renaud is trying to avoid.
“I’ve watched now for 30 years, everything moves out to the highway and we need traffic downtown,” he said, adding there are a lot of misconceptions about the new industry.
“I think a lot of people are looking at this like the old days, like the illegal drug industry. This is now a legal product in Canada as of this coming October.
“I’m a professional retailer who will do a good job in this business. We might get another five or six people employed downtown and more traffic.”
Renaud said he also thinks there is a misconception about the kind of people his store will draw.
He said he spoke to an 83-year-old woman who was curious about his product just the other day.
“I’m absolutely shocked with how many people have come up to me ... I know there is some opposition is out there and I fully understand why some of this opposition is out there. There’s a lot of fundamentalists in this town and they live in a different world than a lot of other people do, so their perspective on this is quite different,” said Renaud.
“I can’t stop it, but please, not in my neighbourhood,” said Ehmler.
“I can just see trouble coming. I can voice my opinion, but if trouble starts coming, we have to stand up and do something.”
