The Town of Ste. Anne will soon be home to the first cannabis store in southeastern Manitoba.

Sean Stewart and his wife Chryslin Friesen are opening up AAAAA Supercraft Cannabis on Traverse Road. According to Stewart, In the Legacy or Illicit market, “As” are a ubiquitous rating system, like beef, whereby AAAA or quad is at the top. He notes going with 5 "A's" takes it one step further.

Stewart says he was raised in Toronto but Chrislyn is originally from Steinbach. They moved back to southeastern Manitoba with their son last fall and decided to open a cannabis store together.

Ste. Anne was the perfect fit.

“In terms of access to the surrounding area, I think it is second to none. It is super close to the highway and a lot of people actually come through Ste. Anne itself every day. The community has been well known to be advocates of having a licensed retailer here in Ste. Anne. Being the first in southeastern Manitoba allows us a really interesting opportunity of being that first impression of what legal cannabis is really about.”

The couple isn’t without experience. Stewart says he is proud to be a cannabis connoisseur himself having smoked daily for over 25 years now. He also has experience in the corporate cannabis world as he helped set up the Tweed cannabis brand and now works remotely at TREC Brands, a company based in Toronto that designs new cannabis brands.

Stewart says one of his personal goals is to help people transition from the illicit use of cannabis to the legal side.

“The opportunity really exists in the expertise of the legacy market and the protocol, process, etc. of the legal market,” he adds, “What is happening now is this paradigm shift from the illegal side to the legal side because the legal side is getting cheaper, and it is getting better. More people on the illegal legacy side are making moves over onto the legal side so it is kind of a perfect storm for really high-quality products.”

Having been a part of the Cannabis world for decades, Stewart says he understands the people that are involved in the illicit market. He notes in cannabis culture, there is a big divide between the government and all of the people that had to do a lot of illegal things to enjoy cannabis in the past. He says he hopes to shrink that gap.

Being that this is going to be the first cannabis store in the Southeast, Stewart says they want to focus on education.

“We love the one-on-one conversations. We have all of the staff going through a cannabis sommelier certification course so we want to be the location for people to come when they have questions, everyone from connoisseurs like me to a question from your grandma and how she is looking to integrate cannabis so we are education first.”

Stewart says if everything goes to plan, AAAAA Supercraft Cannabis will open to the public on June 25th at 10 A.M. sharp. He notes they even aim to provide same-day delivery anywhere in the Southeast.