Nathaniel Gavin, vice president in charge of operations, left, with his father, Rockshop owner Dale Whiteside. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Angela Brown

Cannabis growth

North Battleford business owner to start selling cannabis retail products

Jul 26, 2021 | 6:00 PM

Another North Battleford business will now be selling cannabis after receiving approval from the province for its licence.

Rockshop, located at A1221 101 Street, is expected to receive its cannabis products later this week to begin selling the items likely Thursday or Friday.

Owner Dale Whiteside is pleased with the opportunity to offer more at his downtown business.

He is thrilled to finally be able to start selling cannabis products, after going through a long application wait time.

“We’re extremely excited, very anxious, and relieved, because it was quite the process,“ he said.

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The pandemic situation may have caused a bit of a delay also.

“Now that the [province’s COVID-19] restrictions are lifted it definitely made the process a little quicker…,” he said.

Whiteside said he passed all the requirements and met the “due diligence” provisions, for the shop to be authorized to sell cannabis.

“It was a five-and-a-half month period for them to verify that I was a successful candidate,” he said.

Since then, he has received his licence from the province to be able to sell cannabis products.

The business previously obtained permission from the city in 2000 for a discretionary land-use application for the site, as it meets the city’s bylaw regulations, and maintains at least a 225-metre buffer from any parks or schools.

Whiteside says he believes he is the only locally-owned, independent permit holder in North Battleford selling cannabis.

The shop will sell cannabis and cannabis accessories only, including assorted recreational cannabis and CBD products. He plans to carry a variety of items such as edibles, lotions as well as vape cartridges. He noted the shop will not carry any products containing nicotine.

In preparing his shop to start selling cannabis, Whiteside said he made a number of improvements to the store’s security.

“We had to make some major upgrades to the building. We had to upgrade our surveillance and security system,” he said.

Only people 19 years of age and over are permitted to purchase cannabis products.

“We ID everybody from 19 to 99 years old. It doesn’t matter how old you are, if you are buying marijuana we have to ask you for identification,” he said. “You have to provide proper identification if you are buying marijuana products.”

Whiteside is glad to be able to offer more at his store now, and also offer a new niche business in the downtown.

“We’ve become North Battleford’s downtown pot store,” he said.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow