It was summer of 2018, and my wife Nadine and I were both around the time of retirement from our respective careers. At this time, we had only previously casually discussed wishes to start some type of little business after retirement, something to put our new extra time into.

“Honey, I think I want us to open up a pot shop,” I said to Nadine one day, to which she replied, incredulously, “Are you f***ing kidding me?!”

*Spoiler alert* She eventually got on board after some convincing.

I didn’t need so much convincing myself. I had always enjoyed cannabis – often smoking a joint to unwind or to boost creativity. I had also dabbled in my own cannabis sales in the 70’s (we’ll leave that story for another time), so figured I had some relevant experience. We were in the middle of a very exciting time for many Canadian cannabis users: federal legalization. Opening a retail cannabis store allowed us to not only start our family business, but also allowed us to be a part of and potentially help shape the newly legal Canadian cannabis market – an amazing opportunity.

With a little bit of persuading, we convinced Nadine’s daughter, Danielle, to be our store manager. Being a mother to a new baby herself at the time, Danielle was naturally a bit nervous about being able to make it all work. But we assured her that this will be our family business, and as families usually do – they just make it work!

And that’s what we did. All as a family, we went through the long and extremely arduous application and licensing processes. We went through many nights sitting around Danielle’s kitchen table, planning and working through our ideas and questions about this brand-new market – as Danielle’s new little baby grew into a toddler that ran circles around us. We researched the existing legacy market meticulously. We went through the construction of setting up shop in the old Strauss Herbs garlic grind building on Tranquille Road (again with Danielle’s toddler in tow). And finally, as a family, we went through the process of hiring and training our *new* family members for opening day.

Fast-forward to now, three years later, the family business we’ve built is still going strong and we are so proud to say that we made it work! From the garlic grind up, with the help of our amazing and dedicated staff, we’ve built The Shore Cannabiz Shop as a family unit. Keeping our family values close to our hearts, we’ve created a space where everyone who enters – owners, staff, and customers (and their pets!) – are treated like family, and that’s just what we set out to do all along.

Learn more about our little Cannabiz family here