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BC’s third cannabis farmgate store received provincial approval recently, with plans to welcome customers in the new year.
Weeds International Inc., a micro cultivator in Pitt Meadows, BC, received its producer retail store licence, i.e. cannabis farmgate, from the BC government on Friday, December 13, after a lengthy application approval process.
In addition to their micro cultivation site, Weeds’ owners Don and Devon Briere and Carol Gwilt also operate retail locations in Vancouver and Sechelt. The Weeds brand has been part of BC cannabis culture for more than two decades, with a former chain of retail stores that operated across the province years before legalization.
Weeds’ new farmgate licence is the third such licence issued in the province since it began accepting applications for Producer Retail Stores (PRS) in November 2022. Only three companies have applied for such a licence. The province has also licensed two similar stores, one in Williams Lake and one in Chilliwack, under special arrangements with local First Nations called Section 119 agreements.
The company is now waiting on their final business licence from the city of Pitt Meadows, where they are located.
Gwilt says she and the Brieres were very excited to get the final provincial approval. They are now working on putting the final touches on the store, with the goal of a soft launch in February.
“It’s been a vision for a long time for us,” she tells StratCann. “To be able to grow and sell and share weed with our community is an honour. We love being in Pitt Meadows and we’re happy to have the community come to our farm and experience this with us.”
Don Briere says the Weeds team has several other pieces of the puzzle they hope to bring about later in 2025, including an outdoor consumption space and, more long term, the possibility of a more focussed tourist experience by creating nearby guest houses, where people can visit their farm and buy and sample products over several days.
“It’s been a long time coming; there’s been a lot of slowdown and turns and roadblocks, but we’re here now,” says Briere. We just have to persist and keep on truckin’.”
BC’s first cannabis farmgate location, ShuCanna, located in Salmon Arm, opened in the summer of 2023. The second, the Victoria Cannabis Co (VCC), opened its cannabis farmgate store in October 2024 after a lengthy approval process with the city.
Ontario was the first to launch its farmgate program in 2021, licensing the first two locations on April 20 of that year. As of May 2024, Ontario listed five fully licensed farmgate locations. New Brunswick became the second province to announce a cannabis farmgate program, also in 2021, allowing for “on-site selling of in-house products for local LPs, nurseries, and micros.” The province currently lists seven such locations.
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