A week after legal pot stores began opening up in Toronto, city officials are warning they will take tough action against those who continue to operate illegally.

"We are starting an aggressive enforcement action [which will continue] for the foreseeable future," Mark Sraga, the director of investigation services for municipal licensing and standards, told CBC Toronto.

"Currently, our intelligence tells us we have 20 illegal cannabis stores open and operating in the city."

The first nine licensed cannabis stores in Ontario opened for business on April 1. There are two stores operating in Toronto — Yorkville-based Ameri, which opened Sunday; and The Hunny Pot, which started a week earlier.

The Ontario-designated operator of a cannabis outlet in Niagara Falls said that he expects the store to open by early May. 

Chris Bogart, Choom Cannabis president, said the store at 7555 Montrose Road is in “full construction mode.”

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario designated the Vancouver-based Choom Cannabis the province-backed adult use and recreational marijuana retailer for Niagara Falls earlier this winter.

The store is in a strip plaza along a heavily-traveled thoroughfare.

A second Niagara regional cannabis retailer opened Monday in St. Catharines.

The Richmond Row business, owned by Ranjit Basra, had been waiting for its retail store authorization, which has now been issued, according to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, the province’s pot regulator.

Located at 691 Richmond St., the business sits beside a now-vacant space that was home to the London Relief Centre, an illegal pot shop that served anyone older than 19, until it closed in December following repeated police raids.

Geldhof, 40, arrived at Central Cannabis on Wonderland Road, just north of Oxford Street, around 7 a.m.

“It’s a historic day for Ontario,” Geldhof said from the front of the line that grew to nearly 200 people.

Monday marked the debut of brick-and-mortar pot retail stores in Ontario. Central Cannabis was one of just 10 of the outlets to get the green light from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, the province’s pot regulator, to open.

After a slight delay, staffers in green hoodies welcomed customers inside at 9:45 a.m. following a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

It’s official: brick-and-mortar cannabis shops are legal in Ontario.

As of Monday, Ontario’s first marijuana shops are open for business–and so far, business is booming. According to early reports, eager cannabis buyers have been lining up for hours to get their first taste of store-bought cannabis.

Although the lineups weren’t as long as those seen in other provinces on legalization day last year, they were sizable: according to CTV News, 60 people were lined up outside London’s Central Cannabis store for its 9am grand opening.

Customers lined up to purchase pot at Ontario's first brick-and-mortar cannabis stores on Monday, but fewer than half of the province's government-licensed outlets were ready to open.

The Progressive Conservative government had planned to have 25 stores launch on April 1, but some were still working through a lengthy approval process.

The province's Alcohol and Gaming Commission, which is overseeing the store vetting process, said 10 stores were given the green light to open Monday, though the shop operators can determine their own opening day and business hours.

Three stores were authorized to open in Ottawa, two in Kingston and one each in Toronto, Brampton, Burlington, London, and St. Catharines.

The people of Ontario are bound to feel delighted with the inauguration of the very first outdoor pot smoking area at the “POTio” festival. People can readily broaden their knowledge about the world of cannabis by paying a visit and learning about its means of safe consumption. POTio is the very first festival which is expected to be followed by an array of other organisers for coming up with events and festivals all across Ontario.

The first legal pot shop in Toronto is ready to open its doors Monday morning.

Speaking inside the four-level retail store located at 202 Queen Street West, the communications officer for The Hunny Pot Cannabis Co. told CP24 that their team is “really excited for people to see the space.”

“Our focus from the very beginning was to open on April 1 at 9 a.m. and we never wavered from that,” Cameron Brown said. “We knew that we wanted to be open to make that first sale and the fact that we are the first Toronto retailer to be open and to make that first sale in the biggest market in Canada, I can’t express how excited we are about that.”

Although the process to set up shop was very quick, Brown said their 50-person team is ready to serve.

The shops in the ByWard Market, Centretown and Wellington West Village are among only a handful that will open across the province.

The province had wanted 25 cannabis stores to open by April 1, but many won’t be ready on time.

Ontario residents have been able to buy online at the Ontario Cannabis Store since Canada legalized recreational marijuana on Oct. 17. But bricks-and-mortar shops will bring the still-novel experience of legally purchasing weed to another level.

Expect lineups.

The proprietors of Superette on Wellington Street West have promised a staffer will monitor whether customers are blocking the entrances of neighbouring businesses or parking illegally on adjoining streets.

The “POTio” will be created in an outdoor area normally reserved for cigarette smokers at the provincially-owned Ontario Place.

The lounge is billed as a place where festival goers can “come down” from the beer and explore the world of cannabis while being educated about how to consume it responsibly.

The POTio might be a first, but organizers of other festivals and events across Ontario are grappling with how to handle the first summer of legal recreational pot.

Some events already ban smoking. But others are faced with the new reality in Ontario: people are generally allowed to smoke pot wherever tobacco smoking is allowed.

Festivals are taking different approaches.