MONTRÉAL, July 4, 2025 /CNW/ – Following the adoption of Act 8 (commonly referred to as Bill 85), which amends the Regulation respecting periods of admission to commercial establishments, the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) will launch a project aimed at extending the opening hours of 20 stores in order to better carry out its mission of converting the users to the legal market with its focus on protecting public health.
“The goal of this process is to better fight the illegal market at a time of the day when demand exists and illegal vendors are very active,” explains Jean-François Dulac-Lemelin, Senior Vice-President, Customer Experience. “We want to continue serving users by improving accessibility to lower-risk products. This project will help us better understand consumers’ behaviour and habits. Nearly 20% of our customers who buy cannabis outside our network cite our opening hours as a reason.”
Beginning August 3, eight hours of operation will be added. The extended schedule will be until 10 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and until 6 p.m. on Sundays. The current schedule of staying open until 9 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays will be maintained. It should be noted that since opening its first 12 stores in 2018, the SQDC has been planning to take advantage of extended store hours. The adoption of Act 8 now makes that possible.
Targeted locations
Twenty points of sale located in busy areas across Québec will be included in the project.
|
Region |
Store |
Start Date |
|
Montréal (7) |
Vieux-Montréal |
July 7 (opening) |
|
August 3 |
||
|
August 3 |
||
|
August 3 |
||
|
August 3 |
||
|
August 3 |
||
|
August 3 |
||
|
Lanaudière (1) |
August 3 |
|
|
Montréal South Shore (1) |
August 3 |
|
|
Laval and Montréal North Shore (3) |
August 3 |
|
|
August 3 |
||
|
August 3 |
||
|
Mauricie (1) |
August 3 |
|
|
Québec City (3) |
August 3 |
|
|
August 3 |
||
|
August 3 |
||
|
Estrie (2) |
August 3 |
|
|
August 3 |
||
|
Saguenay (1) |
August 3 |
An additional Montréal store will join the list later this fall and an exception will be made for another Montréal store.
Exception for the Vieux-Montréal store
The Vieux-Montréal store will be the first to feature the extended schedule and will do so from its official opening on July 7. This new point of sale will be the 107th in the SQDC network and will feature several changes introduced by the SQDC over the last year to improve its concepts and the customer experience, such as island display cases, displaying products by category (dried flowers, edibles, pre-rolleds, hash, etc.) to improve our advisory approach and using warmer construction materials.
“We are very pleased to open a new store in this part of the city and further increase the coverage of our market,” said the store’s manager, Mario Quattrociocche. “Our advisors have received the necessary training and are ready to field questions from a diverse range of customers. Our model is already well viewed abroad.”
About the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC)
The SQDC is a government corporation mandated to distribute and sell cannabis in Québec with a focus on protecting customers’ health and safety. The company is committed to offering quality products and informing and advising consumers on how to minimize the health impacts of cannabis. The goal is to shrink the illegal cannabis market in Québec. The declared dividend equal to the company’s net income is transferred to the Fonds de lutte contre les dépendances, a fund managed by the Ministère des Finances du Québec, and reinvested primarily in cannabis-related education, prevention efforts and research. For more information, visit SQDC.ca.
SOURCE Société québécoise du cannabis
