The president of a chain of smoke shops says he will make his St. Albert franchise an 18-plus facility as soon as city council asks him to.
“I talked to my business advisor yesterday and as long as council is willing to accept it, we’ll make St. Albert an 18-plus store,” Chad Wentworth, president of he Chad Smoke Shop 420 told the Gazette in an interview Wednesday. “As soon as council says so, I’ll do it the minute I get off the phone.”
Wentworth, who appeared before city council Monday night, said if that comes to pass, the St. Albert store would be the only store in his chain of franchises where clients have to be 18 years of age or older. All the rest, scattered across Alberta and B.C., allow 16 year olds in without parental supervision. He said standards like age restrictions and his company’s refusal to cater to hard-core drug users, zero-tolerance policy on employees using illegal drugs at work, quarterly managers’ meetings and full benefits set his store apart from other competitors in the market.
“We’re not here to make anyone’s lives more difficult than they already are, so we’re willing to work with them. We’re not here to cause any trouble.”
He said the reception his store has received from city council is unlike anything he’s experienced in any of the other communities in which his stores are located.
“Every council and mayor has welcomed us and doesn’t have any issues with me in any way whatsoever. St. Albert’s the only one that’s given us a rough time.”
Wentworth’s reception in council chambers Monday was especially rough when Mayor Nolan Crouse circulated a copy of an active warrant for Wentworth’s arrest out of Hay River, N.W.T., on one count of trafficking in marijuana, dating back to 2009.
“I think that had nothing to do with the way I run a business. I think that was inappropriate of him to present that document. I don’t have anything bad to say about him. I just thought it was unrespectful towards our business to bring up a document that is personal, not business.”
The fact he appeared before council on the same night as council was receiving more information on its strategy to make life more difficult for similar stores was just a coincidence, Wentworth said, but believes the city’s ideas won’t work. While The Chad already frosts its windows and has age restrictions in place, both contemplated in the strategy, he doesn’t think a municipality has the power to curtail a store’s ability to sell a certain number of products it chooses to classify as restricted.
“I don’t think they would be able to do that under federal law,” Wentworth said, adding there is an act in place that “prevents municipalities from targeting a certain type of business like that,” but couldn’t recall the act’s name.
“I don’t know how they would be able to do that because none of that stuff is illegal to carry.”
What Wentworth wants is the opportunity to work with the community, one he spent a lot of time in while growing up in Athabasca for 20 years, and to offer a service no one else in the community provides.
“Edmonton is a five-to-10-minute drive away. If I wasn’t here, people who are going to buy our products are going to go there. And they are going to out for dinner in Edmonton. And they are going to stop at the Walmart in Edmonton instead of Walmart in St. Albert. By not having me here, I think business communities alone would hurt.”
Crouse’s response to Wentworth’s offer to restrict access to those over 18: “follow the laws.”
“This isn’t about the city doing a separate deal with Chad Wentworth. This is about the city having a bylaw with appropriate restrictions and getting a long-term bylaw in place,” Crouse said. “Let’s make sure we have the right laws in place in the long term.”
As for Wentworth himself, Crouse, who wouldn’t reveal how he found out about Wentworth’s outstanding warrant, believes he should face his criminal charges.
“He should go the Northwest Territories and answer to his trafficking charge,” Crouse said. “I want to do everything we can to develop assets in youth and to make sure our youth are moving around the right circles. In my opinion, this isn’t one of them.”
While Wentworth says he isn’t proud of his past, he is proud of his store and is ready to start considering a charitable component. To that end he has set up an online comic book and card store — my-free-comics.com — from which all proceeds will go to the Stollery Children’s Hospital. The store itself will be located in B.C. He explained he wanted to donate to the hospital without the stigma of his company being associated with it.
“My son, he had seven surgeries [at the Stollery], three of them were major surgeries. It’s something I’m really happy to be doing. Hopefully that will play into something. I’m not such a bad guy.”
