SQDC opening hours to be extended as of August

The Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) announced Friday that the opening hours for 20 of its branches will be extended starting Aug. 3. 

Store hours will now be extended until 10 p.m. from Thursday to Saturday, and until 6 p.m. on Sundays. Stores will remain open until 9 p.m. from Monday to Wednesday. 

This project to extend opening hours will affect branches in the regions of Montreal, Lanaudière, the South Shore, Laval and the North Shore, Mauricie, Quebec City, Estrie and Saguenay. 

“The objective of this approach is to further counter the illegal market at a time of day when demand is present and illegal sellers are active,” said Jean-François Dulac-Lemelin, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience at the SQDC, in a press release. 

“Nearly 20 per cent of our customers who purchase cannabis outside our network cite opening hours,” he added. 

The Old Montreal branch will be an exception, however, as it will offer extended hours upon opening on July 7. This new point of sale will become the SQDC’s 107th branch. 

The new location will feature several changes introduced by the SQDC over the last year to improve its concepts and the customer experience, such as island display cases, displaying products by category (dried flowers, edibles, pre-rolleds, hash, etc.) to improve customers overall experience.

“We are very pleased to open a new store in this part of the city and further increase the coverage of our market,” said the store’s manager, Mario Quattrociocche. “Our advisors have received the necessary training and are ready to field questions from a  diverse range of customers. Our model is already well viewed abroad.”

Since opening its first 12 stores in 2018, the SQDC has been planning to take advantage of extended store hours. The SQDC clarified that these opening hours come into effect thanks to the adoption of Law 8 (or Bill 85) which modifies, among other things, the Regulation respecting admission periods in commercial establishments. 

An additional Montreal store will join the list later this fall and an exception will be made for another Montreal store.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews