This article has been updated to reflect current provincial regulations.
As a state of public emergency continues in Alberta, cannabis and liquor stores in St. Albert have reported a spike in business over the last few weeks.
"For the first week and a half, it was busy, busy, busy, and now it's starting to quiet down," said Dustin Drake, Campbell Liquor store manager in St. Albert. "It's just people coming in and buying in bulk."
On March 27, Alberta followed Quebec and Ontario in the closure of all non-essential businesses, identifying liquor and cannabis as essential services.
"Liquor and cannabis retail outlets, manufacturers and producers as well as warehousers and distributors and AGLC operations are considered essential operations at this time," reads an update posted to the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC)'s website.
Before the new measures were announced, Drake said the store has seen some customers clear out shelves over anxiety the store could close in the future.
Sargent Liquor Store on Boudreau Road also reported a slight bump in sales over the last few weeks. Delivery services are not available, though some customers have gotten alcohol delivered through taxi services in the city, he said.
On the cannabis side, one local business is seeing a number of new customers coming through the door.
Earlier this month, customers were stocking up on cannabis, not with the same urgency as toilet paper sales, but enough to last them over a longer period of time, said a salesperson at Plantlife in Erin Ridge North.
There are plenty of new customers coming in with interest around lower THC options like edibles, she said.
"People who have never been into a pot store before are now so bored, I think they're just driving around looking for any business that is still open and wandering in here."
Coleman Benton, Plantlife district manager, said the sales spike is coming from people who are brand new to cannabis. With more people staying at home to prevent the spread of COVID-19, customers are looking for something to do, he said.
"There are bigger issues out there than the Devil's Lettuce. Anyone who was super against it before is coming in now and saying, 'Okay, let's try this stuff,'" Benton said.
The store is keeping up with sanitization and social-distancing measures, Benton said. With Ontario and Quebec keeping cannabis as an essential service, he said he felt confident Alberta would do the same.
While it's not known when it will be safe for social-isolation measures to end, these new customers will be good for the cannabis industry, he said.
"It's good to get people familiar with it and okay with it, whoever may not have been in the first place," Benton said. "If we as an industry and as a business make it through this, it's paved a gold road."
