The P.E.I. government has identified the final two locations of its cannabis retail stores.
Those stores will be located at 85 Belvedere Ave. in Charlottetown and 474 Main St. in O’Leary.
Finance Minister Heath MacDonald said the next step is to start the process of hiring a contractor to renovate the stores.
“Hopefully, within a month we will likely see some of those being outfitted,” he said.
Once marijuana is legalized, the government will initially have four retail locations operating under the Cannabis Management Corporation.
The government previously announced stores opening at 425 Granville St. in Summerside and 509 Main St. in Montague.
MacDonald said each store will have between six and nine employees with similar designs for all the stores.
Security will be tighter at the cannabis stores than what people are used to at provincial liquor stores, including staff having to buzz in customers.
The number of customers in the stores at any given time will also be limited with the province saying the customer to staff ratio won’t be any higher than three to one.
“The security is extremely high,” MacDonald said.
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The cost to renovate the new stores will vary by location, which will range in size from 1,250 square feet in Montague to 2,760 square feet in Charlottetown.
The province expects it to cost between $225 and $285 per square foot in fit-up costs for the stores.
Products sold at the stores will be displayed behind glass or counters.
MacDonald said there will be monitors in the stores to educate people about the different products available.
“Everything will be packaged and wrapped and basically stamped by Health Canada,” he said.
With all the extra security steps, MacDonald said it is important to show Islanders the government is regulating cannabis to the best of its ability.
“You can always reduce security, but it’s harder after something happens, possibly, that you can’t build it back up,” he said.
