The District of Peachland’s first-ever retail cannabis store has opened its doors.
On Friday, April 16, Budding Creations was officially in business and ready to serve Peachland residents.
Local resident Steve Allison and his family own the store, with another location in Grande Prairie, Alberta, which started operating a year ago.
“We were happy with the result (of the Alberta location), so we got this one going as well,” he said.
“It was a long journey, but we knew we needed one in the community.”
Budding Creations is part of the district’s plan to help keep Peachland’s downtown bustling with businesses that residents can go to and visitors from neighbouring towns can visit.
He added that with Budding Creations’ opening, Peachland residents will no longer have to feel like they have to go to West Kelowna or Kelowna to access cannabis.
Mayor Cindy Fortin attended the opening and said she was excited to see a new business opening despite the hard times brought about by the pandemic.
“I’ve been to a lot of openings of business over the decade that I’ve been in local government and this is the first cannabis one,” she said.
“But I’m really happy and proud of the great job they’ve done in putting this together… I’m sure it will be well-visited.”
When cannabis was declared legal in 2018, she said local municipalities were left to figure out the specifics of how they will implement regulations around retail cannabis and as such, it took Peachland some time to get bylaws in place.
“It took us a while to get everything in place but this is the result, and I’m really glad to see another business open up in Peachland.”
Allison’s daughter Taylor Christianson will be responsible for the store’s day-to-day operations and she said she’s excited precisely because residents have been so excited for their opening.
“Since the beginning, their question was ‘how soon can you open?’,” she said.
“Our staff is well-trained and a lot of them are local. We just really wanted to have that local feel, just your comfortable, convenient and makes you feel at home cannabis store.”
Allison said he knows the demand for cannabis in Peachland has always been strong and for a local family to be able to help their community have access to it is a rewarding feeling, he said.
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