Coronavirus: Ontario’s private pot shops upset about giving up delivery and curbside pickup

TORONTO — Ontario’s private cannabis stores will have to give up offering delivery and curbside pickup next week — and they’re not happy about it.

The stores were allowed to start offering both services in April under a temporary emergency order the Ontario government issued during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the province is working on extending its state of emergency until July 24, orders that allowed delivery and curbside pickup won’t continue and the services will have to cease on July 15.

The owner of a Superette pot shop in Ottawa that offered both curbside pickup and delivery during the pandemic, says she is disappointed the services have to end because delivery levels the playing field between legal and illegal cannabis operations.

Mimi Lam says customers like to have options and eliminating convenience and choice makes little sense for them.

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce and its Ontario Cannabis Policy Council are also upset about the services ending because they say this decision will further reduce consumer access to the legal cannabis market.

2:12 2.8 million Ontarians live in places where cannabis retail is illegal