Canopy Growth Corp. is temporarily shutting down its corporate-owned cannabis stores across the country Tuesday due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the company said in a statement. 

Canopy, which owns 23 legal cannabis stores in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador, will close its stores for an undetermined period of time at 5 p.m. local.  It is also closing its visitors centre located at its headquarters in Smiths Falls, Ont. 

“We have a responsibility to our employees, their families, and our communities to do our part to ‘flatten the curve’ by limiting social interactions. For us, that means shifting our focus from retail to e-commerce," said David Klein, chief executive officer of Canopy Growth, in a statement. 

The nation's rapid shift into social distancing and isolation has been lousy for most segments of the U.S. economy, but one niche seeing significant growth in recent days is the licensed cannabis sector, home to companies like Curaleaf (OTC:CURLF), and Cresco Labs (OTC:CRLBF). 

As public health officials work to contain the coronavirus, Canadians are doubling down on cannabis.

Before the premier announced the province was in a state of emergency on Tuesday, Ontario Cannabis Store experienced a surge in sales. Sales were up 80 per cent on Saturday and 100 per cent on Sunday, Daffyd Roderick, director of communications for the OCS, told the The GrowthOp in an email. More than 7,000 orders were placed over the weekend.

The first licensed cannabis store in Waterloo is open for business.

Located on King Street South, Bud & Sally Cannabis Co. recently welcomed local residents to check out the cannabis-infused products on offer, CTV News reports.

As the only pot shop in town, the launch drew limited patrons. It’s not as if there’s a significant amount of local competition in the region, although Kitchener’s Meta Cannabis and Cambridge’s Tokyo Smoke are but a quick drive away.

One Waterloo resident said lack of publicity may have been the cause.

As health experts urge people to maintain social distancing, it remains to be seen how effectively Canadians can best practice this in the workplace.

As far as federal legislation goes, there is no law in place that “requires employers to provide workers with paid sick leave and only two provinces — Quebec and Prince Edward Island — offer paid sick leave,” National Post reports.

Although cannabis and hemp have been historically used for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, the legal and regulated industry is still in its infancy.

In case you missed it, the World Health Organization (WHO) made the announcement that most people were expecting this past Wednesday, March 11: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is officially a pandemic.

The first cannabis store in Waterloo and the third in the region is officially open.

Bud and Sally Cannabis Company held its grand opening on Saturday and welcomed in the public at noon.

“We’re doing all that we can to create a warm shopping place for our customers,” said store owner John Radostits. “With all the thing’s going on in the world it’s pretty exciting to have a friendly place to buy your cannabis.”

Marijuana stocks have definitely seen better days. But, due to the coronavirus market fluctuations have hit the market hard. With these recent events, it is hard to pick a strategy to trade with because uncertainty is very much in the air. But, as traders, we can look for value wherever it can be found. Much of the talk surrounding pot stocks right now is about looking for companies that are at bare bottom prices. These companies could provide a solid bounce in price once all of the coronavirus related fears have gone away.

The Northwest Territories's online cannabis store has seen only 604 users since legalization and lost $136,000 last fiscal year. It's on track to lose the same amount or more in 2019-2020.

That's despite a 44 per cent markup on all products sold in the online store — a profit margin which guarantees its prices are not competitive with black market vendors.

Since legalization, $3.9 million worth of legal cannabis has been sold in the territory. But just $57,664 of that — less than 1.5 per cent — was purchased online.

"The online store was established to ensure that NWT residents in all communities have access to safe and legal cannabis," Todd Sasaki, a spokesperson for the territory's Department of Finance, wrote in an email.