Grassroots Co.’s story starts years before the Canadian government legalized cannabis in October 2018. O’Reilly, who has a background in retail, originally brought up the idea of a cannabis store in conversation with Janicijevic more than eight years ago on a hunch.

“It was Chad’s original idea — he approached me and told me he thinks one day, cannabis will be legal in Canada. Of course, I didn’t believe him,” said Janicijevic, who has a medical background.

“But Chad had the foresight to continue that dream. When the Liberal government came into power and completely legalized it, Chad contacted me again and we launched a feasibility study to see if our chances were any good.”

O’Reilly and Janicijevic then approached Lamoureux, the former owner of the Falcon Limited Hotel in Garson, with a business opportunity.

“Bob has a long history, and he is a staple of the business community here in Sudbury. We wanted his advice and support, and he came on board. That’s how this whole thing started,” said Janicijevic.

Lamoureux said that he was more than happy to offer up his support and business expertise. “Those two boys — that was their dream. I came into the picture afterwards and we started Grassroots together,” said Lamoureux.

Before their dream could be realized, they had a number of obstacles to overcome. This includes Ontario’s cannabis retail lottery system that drew wide criticism from hopefuls looking to break into the industry.

“That was disappointing. When we first did the application, it was on a merit-based system, and then I think a week before the actual application was to be opened, they changed it to the lottery system,” said Janicijevic.

In December 2018, the Ontario government gave the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario the mandate to hold a lottery to determine who could apply for a retail operator licence.

The first lottery, which took place in January 2019, had a temporary cap of 25 retail store authorizations — only two of these authorizations were allotted to Northern Ontario.

“With that lottery system, the chances of us getting a licence were very low. It was very discouraging, but we went through it. We persevered and we pushed through,” said Janicijevic.

“Funnily enough, we got second place in North Bay during the second lottery. We were very close.”

Although Ontario eventually moved to an open market allocation of licences, Grassroots Co. ran into another snag — the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Opening a business is hard even in regular circumstances, but with the COVID-19 pandemic, it has definitely been a challenge,” said Janicijevic. “Everything is really backed up right now, so it has caused some delays, but we’re hoping that gets sorted out soon.”

Despite these challenges, Grassroots Co. has received all necessary licensing and the retail store opened with a soft launch a few weeks ago to iron out any technical issues in their system.

So far, the community has been very receptive, said Lamoureux.

The store hopes to hold its official grand opening sometime before Thanksgiving if all goes to plan.

“Our biggest asset is our staff — we went through an intense selection process to find the best possible staff,” said Lamoureux.

“They are all experts in the product, and they surprise us every day. Our general manager, David Jones, has opened four cannabis stores already, so he has lots of expertise. We know what to buy, what not to buy, and we will have a huge selection for our customers.”

The retail store will sell all the usual fare, including cannabis flower and other products like edibles and beverages, but it will focus on delivering products of the highest quality. There will also be a small gift shop in the store that sells paraphernalia and branded clothing.

Grassroots Co.’s aim is to expand the company locally, and it has its sights set on Garson as a secondary location.

“You see a lot of other cannabis retail stores setting up locations all over Northern Ontario, but we want to stay in Sudbury,” said Lamoureux. “We want to be the prime deliverer of cannabis in Sudbury.”

Grassroots Co. is located at 113 Lasalle Blvd. and it’s open for in-store pickup. Visit www.grassrootsco.ca for online orders, weekly staff picks, and new product releases.

The Local Journalism Initiative is made possible through funding from the federal government.