The Société québécoise du cannabis is adjusting the opening hours of its stores

Montréal, October 26, 2018 - The Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) wishes to inform its customers that due to supply issues in the entire range of products offered, the decision was made to review the opening hours of its 12 stores. Starting Monday, October 29, SQDC’s stores will be open from Thursday to Sunday only according to the opening hours initially scheduled (Thursday and Friday from 10 am to 9 pm, Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 17 pm). Hence, stores will be closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays until product availability has stabilized.

This decision will help the SQDC to serve its customers as efficiently as possible by concentrating business hours over four days and thus avoiding unnecessary visits for its customers. It is important to mention, however, that this decision does not eliminate the possibility of in-store product shortages because of the production challenges faced by suppliers. The SQDC believes that this decision will allow to consolidate shipments, achieve greater operational efficiency, and improve customer experience.

The SQDC wishes to reiterate that sales recorded since October 17 are in line with its forecasts. The Société also has contracts with its product suppliers signed for more than three years and issued purchase orders to each of them in order to guarantee supply for a full first quarter, based on these forecasts. Consequently, suppliers have a tremendous amount of work to do to meet their commitments to the SQDC. It should be noted that inventory difficulties affect all Canadian jurisdictions.

Online sales
Despite the revision of the opening hours of the store network, the transactional website SQDC.ca will remain open at all times. On average, about 30 products are still available on the Web and deliveries may take 2 to 5 days.

About the SQDC employees
From day one, the SQDC was able to count on responsible employees who worked tirelessly during the first days of the legalization of cannabis. No layoffs are expected for the employees working in the 12 SQDC stores due to the revised hours of operation. Working hours will be concentrated mainly during the 4 days of opening to the public. Hours will also be allocated on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, to ensure the reception and processing of deliveries while making sure that the stores are kept in order and that the products are well placed.

For responsible consumption
The SQDC intends to rigorously and diligently fulfill its mandate entrusted by the Gouvernement du Québec to distribute and sell cannabis at the retail level in a way that protects public health. The goal being to attract consumers into the legal cannabis market and keep them in it without actually encouraging cannabis use.