The Hunny Pot - Ontario Cannabis Retail Store Visit

A week had passed since the Hunny Pot(202 Queen St W, Toronto) opened; I figured that it was time for me to trek down and see what the Ontario retail cannabis experience would be like.  I was hopeful that there wouldn’t be a huge line-up, so I thought that I better smoke a joint before I queue up.  This was a good call because I proceeded to do a lot of waiting in multiple lines(smh).

The outside line, and the first inside line/waiting area

As I approached the store, there was a line-up of about 20 people.  The line was moving, but slowly.  I waited for 20 minutes before I reached the front of the line, and I was pumped to finally get in.  Be aware, that you are required to show the security guard your identification, regardless of age, or you will not be allowed entry into the store.  The security guard/bouncer dude checked my ID and let me in.  As a high person, I was excited to enter the store and quickly assessed the situation to determine that I was now in another line-up and waiting area(smh again).

I foolishly thought I might be able to go in quickly and grab a half quarter or a cheap pre-roll, and be in and out.  The second waiting area was at least indoors and they had a staff member who could answer questions and continually tell you that the wait won’t be too long.  I was still excited and optimist at this point.

After another 30 minute wait, I was at the front of the line to get my 1 on 1 service with one of the Hunny Pot budtenders.  The girl that served me (a late 20s blonde) was very chill and open to answering any questions and talking about her own cannabis experience.  She gave a brief overview of the products and a tour of the stores 3 floors.  There are sniffing pods, where you can smell a nug or admire it through a magnifying glass, but the selection of strains and products in smelling pods is very limited.

Lots of Accessories for Sale

The products at the Hunny Pot appeared to have a 10-25% mark-up over the price that is available on the OCS online web-store.  Since I’m cheap, I just ordered 2 Solei Gather pre-rolls(0.5g, $6.39 each) as I was in much need of a smoke after all of this queuing up and waiting that I had to endure.  The budtender punched my order into her iPad and attached it to my name.  She advised me to proceed down to the check-out area where I could pick-up my order and pay.

As I headed down to the lower level, I noticed the check-out line was pretty long, yet again I was foolishly hopeful it would move fast.  While in line I chatted with some other patrons who were incredibly pissed about the wait, the prices and the overall experience.  This final line was the slowest and the most frustrating of all the lines.  The employees behind the counter were struggling and pretty slow.  Additionally, I thought once my ordered was entered into the iPad, that employees in the lower level were pre-picking my order so that I could pay and be out of there in an efficient manner.  Instead, the employees try to up-sell you at the cash register and then still need to pick your order.  It was quite frankly shocking and made no sense at all.

Regardless, I am glad that there is greater accessibility to cannabis and that the first brick and mortar stores are open for business in Ontario.  With that said, the price for cannabis is TOO DAMN HIGH!  It was already incredibly expensive and now with an additional retail mark-up, the purse strings are definitely pulled on.  As I left the Hunny Pot, I proceeded to smoke one of my joints and then eat at the hand pulled noodle restaurant next to the Hunny Pot lol.

Munchies

The Hunny Pot was cool and I enjoyed the store design, but the wait time and inefficient processes are just unnecessary.  I really hope management improves things with some common sense processes and policies.  But I achieved my goal of legally buying cannabis in an Ontario retail store, which is a great positive step for our country and communities.

The Hunny Pot has been getting a lot of publicity as being Toronto’s first legal retail brick and mortar store, but Vice News and other outlets have uncovered how the publicist of the Hunny Pot posed as the store’s first customer and essentially gave a misleading interview.  Questionable…..

Smoke On and Smoke Up  -- @highbrowtaste

The news crew was on-scene at the pot shop!