‘Taking baby steps’: Vancouver’s inaugural licensed pot shop reflects on first year in business

It’s been a whirlwind year for Mike Babbins.

Dec. 24 marks the one-year anniversary of his Evergreen Cannabis Society being awarded the city’s first legal cannabis licence.

“It’s been a ridiculous year,” said Babbins, who added that his shop got its first order of edibles from the provincial government wholesaler Tuesday.

“Second Christmas miracle in a row,” he said.

Business has been good for Babbins, but the same can’t be said for all of B.C.

In the first year of legalization, B.C. saw $49.6 million in cannabis sales. That works out to $10 per capita, the lowest in Canada.

Babbins chalked those low numbers up to the province’s cautious pot roll-out, something he said isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“People complain, ‘Why is it taking so long?’ But at the same time, look at the other provinces where stores are shutting down, they’re getting contaminated product. We’re not having those issues here,” he said.

“This is brand new, and we’re taking baby steps, but we’re doing it right. Obviously sales are going to be lower in this province where there aren’t as many legal stores and there’s such a huge infrastructure of the black and grey legacy markets which got us here.”

Babbins said at his store, at least, they’re beginning to see converts from the black market to the legal market.

He believes with the full suite of products now legalized and a steady supply available, that transition will pick up.

He believes 2020 will be a year of consumers experimenting with different products, strains, flavours and price points and will begin to see a more functional market.

— With files form Aaron McArthur