Some of British ColumbiaB次元官网网址檚 cannabis stores say theyB次元官网网址檙e shutting their doors and laying off staff after a labour dispute in the public sector has stopped the provinceB次元官网网址檚 pot distribution centre from shipping product since early last week.

The privately owned stores, which must purchase their stock from the BC Liquor Distribution Branch (BCLDB), say they have run out of supply and have no other choice but to temporarily close and let go of their workers.

Mood Cannabis Co. chief executive Cory Waldron had to lay off 17 workers B次元官网网址� 90 per cent of staff B次元官网网址� at his two Nanaimo stores on Thursday because they werenB次元官网网址檛 receiving deliveries from the BCLDB.

B次元官网网址淭here was lots of tears. WeB次元官网网址檝e had a lot of our staff with us since the day we opened back in 2020, so itB次元官网网址檚 really sad,B次元官网网址� he said.

B次元官网网址淪ome of those people will not be able to come back because they cannot wait for employment insurance.. so they have to find other jobs.B次元官网网址�

Waldron said he knows of at least 40 stores that have closed already and believes that number could double by the end of Friday.

Supplies started dwindling after the British Columbia General EmployeesB次元官网网址� Union, which represents about 33,000 public-service workers in the province and is fighting for better wages, set up picket lines on Aug. 15.

Retail liquor and cannabis stores are not part of the job action, but the cannabis division of the Burnaby customer care centre is.

The union resumed bargaining earlier this week, but a settlement has yet to be reached.

The union did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

BCGEU spokeswoman Jasleen Arora declined to discuss the matter.

If the job action continues, 70 per cent of legal pot retailers in the province will have closed their doors by Aug. 30, estimates Jaclynn Pehota, executive director of the Retail Cannabis Council of BC.

It is likely that 30 per cent of them will not reopen one the job action is resolved, she added in an email.

Her organization has been urging the province to declare cannabis delivery an essential service or allow pot shops to buy stock from outside the province during the job action.

B次元官网网址淲ithout immediate action, significant and irreparable harm will be done to BCB次元官网网址檚 legal cannabis sector,B次元官网网址� reads a letter the organization encouraged stores to send to Premier John Horgan on Thursday.

B次元官网网址淚f these businesses are not offered immediate financial relief to secure their payroll and pay hard costs, many of these businesses will close forever, and BC will permanently lose market share to the black market.B次元官网网址�

Waldron has already heard of illicit sellers heading to privately owned stores and passing out business cards to customers they feel they can lure in during the job action.

He fears it will be hard for some shops to win those customers over again, when deliveries return.

Cassandra Wardrop, operations manager at Flora Cannabis, has similar worries because many of the brandB次元官网网址檚 stores are located a short drive from Indigenous retailers, whose supply is not impacted.

B次元官网网址淚f thatB次元官网网址檚 what they feel is right for them and they have a better experience there, then absolutely, there is a chance that we wonB次元官网网址檛 get (those customers) back,B次元官网网址� she said.

Flora, which has six locations, already had to temporarily lay off 30 people because of the lack of supply.

The stores will continue operating with managers running them, but hours will be reduced and even then, some shops only a week or less of stock remaining, Wardrop said.

For the business and customersB次元官网网址� sake, she hopes deliveries resume soon.

B次元官网网址淒enying British Columbians access to legal substances like cannabis and liquor is negatively impacting British Columbians and I hope the strike action either ends or rotates into another kind of strike.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址擳ara Deschamps, The Canadian Press