6th Outlet for Mary J’s Cannabis
Mary J’s Cannabis held a grand opening for its newest location, in Campbellford, April 14. Wielding the scissors was store manager Liz Rae, with Trent Hills Mayor Bob Crate at her side. The store’s three co-owners are Dashy Singh, fifth from the left, Harman Litt, third from the right, and Jaspreet Dhaliwal, on the right.
Article/image by John Campbell
Campbellford - If Mary J’s Cannabis had located its sixth store in Ontario on High Street in Campbellford, the ads would have written themselves.
But with High Street being in a residential area, that was never an option, and, besides, co-owners Harman Litt, Jaspreet Dhaliwal and Dashy Singh are overjoyed to have found a spot in the downtown to open their recreational cannabis shop, on Front Street North.
Since it opened March 22 they’ve got to know the owners of businesses around them, as well as other people, and “everybody has shown us nothing but love, and nothing about support, and that’s all we can really ask for,” Singh said.
Litt used to be a software engineer, Dhaliwal toiled in the pharmaceutical industry, and Singh worked with developmentally-delayed adults and children before the three life-long best friends decided to switch careers when the Tory government announced it would allow the sale of legal cannabis in private stores.
“We thought, ‘Hey, let’s go for it, and before we knew it,'” Dhaliwal said, “we were right into it,” finished Singh.
“We were all in from day one,” Litt added.
They opened their first shop two years ago after extensively researching “what it takes” to build and run a retail location,” including what they could do “to better serve (their) customers, and also keep the community safe, and keep cannabis away from children’s hands,” Litt said.
They opened stores in Ottawa, (2), Kingston, Russell, and Cobourg before expanding into Trent Hills.
They scouted Campbellford and determined it’s “exactly the type of town that we want to be in,” Litt said.
Their stores’ “bread-and-butter is to be in small communities, that’s where we can best serve our customers, where we can have more one-on-one conversations with the people … and be better ingrained within the community.”
“We try to pride ourselves on having the best customer service around,” Singh said. Wherever they set up shop “we try to build a relationship with the community” by getting “to know everybody by name (and) what they like to get, (to build) a nice relationship with them. And we like to give back to the community.”
Singh said Mary J’s has three business “pillars”: community, customer service, “and the best prices around.”
It sells everything from dry flower to pre-rolls to edibles, as well as vapes, tinctures and topicals. (To learn more, visit https://shop.maryjcannabis.ca/embed/stores/3732).
They’re all “strictly recreational” and purchased from the government of Ontario.
“There are over 1,500 different SKUs (stock keeping units) that you can get from the Ontario Cannabis Store,” Singh said. “Everything is made in Canada as well.”
Mary J’s employs four people at Campbellford, and more than 30 people across the chain.
“We’re always looking at opportunities to grow, and see where we can expand the Mary J’s name,” Litt said.
They’re “super happy to be in town, and we’re grateful for how receptive everybody has been.”
“Everyone here is so friendly and from the bottom of our hearts thank you to Campbellford, it’s been amazing,” Dhaliwal said.
Trent Hills Mayor Bob Crate said “it’s always nice to welcome a new business to town,” when the store owners held a grand opening April 14 – at 2 p.m., not 4:20 – that involved cutting a ribbon – and not lighting up a joint.
“Here we grow again,” quipped Trent Hills and District Chamber of Commerce chair Dennis Savery. “We welcome you with open arms and hope you have wonderful years of success and expansion, and hire more people.”
Also there to offer their congratulations and best wishes were MP Philip Lawrence, MPP David Piccini’s executive assistant Nico Johnson, and Trent Hills community development officer Kira Mees, representing the Campbellford BIA.
“We really appreciate the friendliness, the hospitality, and we look forward to a great relationship between us and the town of Campbellford,” Singh said.
