Manitoba's cannabis industry settling, but more opportunities in store, expert says

A young cannabis plant is shown in Fenwick, Ont., Tuesday, June 26, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tijana Martin

Manitoba's budding cannabis industry has continued to grow over the last five years, and now one business expert says the industry might be entering its next phase.

Babette's Cannabis Dispensary, a family-owned shop on Portage Avenue, is on the verge of its one-year anniversary.

Annick Beauchesne, the co-owner of the shop, hopes to see opinions about cannabis change.

“The stigma is still pretty strong even for a lot of our regular customers," Beauchesne said. "But the hope, and I'm sure it's going to happen more and more, it's going to be more normalized.”

They say competition is the biggest challenge.

“I mean the pie is only so big, and we are all splitting it," said Veronica Padilla, the general manager at Babette's.

On March 31, 2019, there were 21 active retail licences in Manitoba. By March 31, 2022, there were 151. As of Thursday, there are more than 170 cannabis retail stores are listed as active on the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba’s website.

“Lots of people tend to jump into that industry," said Wenlong Yuan, a professor of entrepreneurship and innovation at the University of Manitoba.

"You probably have oversupply of entrepreneurs and oversupply of businesses, but at the same time the industry itself and the size of the market is just not really picking up."

Yuan is expecting the cannabis industry to settle soon. But while this happens, he expects to see more opportunities on the production side of cannabis.

John Fayed, a co-founder of Rogue Botanical in Niverville, Man. said they took it slow.

“We had an opportunity to watch what was happening in the industry with some of the early players, some of the other producers," Fayed said. "We paid close attention to what was working for them and what wasn't working."

He said that patience paid off. A year and a half into business, Rogue Botanical is preparing to expand. Fayed said the next step in growing is working with scientists, exactly like they are doing with the University of Manitoba.

“I think academia-wise, I think we are going to learn way more than we know," said Grant Wittevrongel, a master grower at Rogue Botanical.