A month after opening its doors, Coconut Cannabis has been officially welcomed as part of the Front Street business landscape.
On Wednesday morning, a delegation of the city's business advocates, led by the mayor, cut the ribbon outside the cannabis shop, which has taken up operations in the old home of A Yellow Flower Basket.
Business development manager Marco Marino, Mayor Terry Ugulini, Regional councillor Tim Whalen and Business Improvement Association Chair Serge Carpino made a visit to the dispensary to offer their welcome to the staff and management.
"It's an amazing facility," said Ugulini, moments before the cutting of the black ribbon outside the storefront. "And when you come in here, you really notice what a relaxed atmosphere you have in here."
Thanking owner Anthony Candeloro, who opened the shop as his first venture into the legal cannabis business, for joining the multiple new establishments on Front Street, Ugulini said the opening couldn't come at a better time.
"I think this is our third or fourth ribbon cutting on Front Street this week. We've been growing on the residential side, and now we are seeing that with businesses too."
The store staff and manager Anthony Candeloro said the store has a strong emphasis on cannabis education and catering to new users.
"We've been welcomed by so many businesses here on Front, it's an amazing location," said Candeloro.
Asked by ThoroldToday if he had ever smoked weed, Mayor Terry Ugulini said he 'couldn't remember.'
"It's nothing that I... I'm a lover of fine wines," he said.
It wasn't without some rumblings in city hall that the pot shop, the third within city limits, could open. Earlier this year, councillors voted to send a letter to the AGCO, expressing concerns over the location of the dispensary, prompting the owner to counter with a letter of his own to the city. It appears Wednesday's ribbon helped soothe the unrest in the matter.
