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Signage up for new cannabis shop, licence yet to be approved

Pacificanna owner said he is still waiting for licence, but opened his Port Hardy shop June 21
17416800_web1_190626-WLT-Pacificanna
The sign has gone up for a proposed cannabis retail store at Comer Station on Mackenzie Avenue North, but as of yet the owner said he has not received his provincial licence as of yet. Monica Lamb-Yorski photo

The owner of a proposed cannabis retail shop on Mackenzie Avenue North has signage up at Comer Station, but confirmed he has not received his licence from the province yet.

Peter Saunders, owner of Pacificanna, said his Port Hardy location had been approved and the store opened on Friday, June 21.

“The province has almost 500 applications in the process and they’ve only approved around 35,” he said.

Saunders lives in Victoria and said he has been doing business in Williams Lake since 1985 when he purchased the Fraser Inn.

“Later I sold the Fraser Inn, kept the beer and wine store. I have the Comer Beer and Wine store and the convenience store next to it. I have some partners in town too.”

So far the only cannabis retail shop open in Williams Lake is owned and operated by the Williams Lake Indian Band on Mackenzie Avenue South near the entrance to Scout Island.

Read more: WLIB opens Indigenous Bloom the lakecity’s first official cannabis dispensary

A government run cannabis store slated for Boitanio Mall has submitted design drawings to the City, but no construction has date has been confirmed, said the City’s manager of planning and development Hasib Nadvi, adding so far the store in Boitanio Mall is the only one that has received a licence from the province.



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Monica Lamb-Yorski

About the Author: Monica Lamb-Yorski

A B.C. gal, I was born in Alert Bay, raised in Nelson, graduated from the University of Winnipeg, and wrote my first-ever article for the Prince Rupert Daily News.
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