Ontario Cannabis Store sells out of edibles within hours

Ontario’s only legal online outlet for adult-use cannabis sold out of edibles within hours of their initial availability Thursday, demonstrating exceptionally strong demand in Canada’s largest market.

Newly regulated Cannabis 2.0 products such as chocolates and vapes went on sale online Thursday in Ontario, though the products have been available in the province’s approximately two dozen physical stores for about two weeks.

Canada’s large cannabis companies are banking on exceptional 2.0 sales in the coming months – especially in key markets such as Ontario and British Columbia – after seeing disappointing revenues in the first year of legalization.

Ontario Cannabis Store Communications Director Daffyd Roderick said there were roughly 3,000 customers in the OCS “digital lobby” waiting for the new products to become available at 8:59 a.m. ET Thursday.

“In less than half an hour, we were sold out of the soft chew category and other edible products were becoming very limited,” he wrote in an email to Marijuana Business Daily.

Roderick said all edibles are now sold out, but inventory of vape cartridges and batteries remains “reasonable.”

The Ontario Cannabis Store will replenish OCS.ca’s inventory only after the bricks-and-mortar outlets have been allotted an equal share of available product.

The online OCS store started selling more than 70 newly regulated products Thursday, including chocolates, cookies, soft chews, mints, tea and vapes.

Topicals, concentrates and beverages are still months away from hitting store shelves.

“We know that the retail store network launch of these products was tremendously successful, and we’re now offering the same products to our e-commerce customers,” OCS Chief Executive Cal Bricker said in a news release.

Almost 33 million Canadian dollars ($25 million) worth of recreational cannabis products were sold in Ontario in October, the latest month for which data is available.