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The Charter of the French language and its regulations govern the consultation of English-language content.
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The Société québécoise du cannabis celebrates its second anniversary on October 17, 2020. The 12 SQDC branches officially opened their doors two years ago, on October 17, 2018.
For the occasion, we are giving you an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the organization, to mark this historical event in Québec.
In November 2017, the Gouvernement du Québec mandated the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) to create the SQDC. That’s less than a year before the official opening of the first stores! The small team tasked with creating – from scratch – a network of branches and a transactional website, and everything in between, would have 11 months tops to do so! With the clock ticking, the team got to work.
In the following months, the team of ten responsible for creating the SQDC, led by Alain Brunet, President and CEO of the SAQ at the time, and Jean-François Bergeron, who would eventually take over this role for the SQDC, worked arduously. The team found, leased, and renovated the locals that would become branches. A dozen or so branch employees were also hired and trained.
“There were about 20 of us hard at work in this room, which we referred to as our spaceship. I would say the sprint lasted a good six months.”
- Eve Larrivée, Director, e-Commerce Operations
A website was created, as well as systems for checkouts, inventories, and payroll. Eve Larrivée recalls the ambience in the space specially dedicated to the e-commerce, finance, sales, and information technology teams. “There were about 20 of us hard at work in this room, which we referred to as our spaceship. I would say the sprint lasted a good six months.”
Obviously, the SQDC also signed agreements with suppliers. Geneviève Giroux, Director of Procurement, Product Management, and Customer Relations, was responsible for inventory management. “Our forecasts were really precise, but the producers, who only had a few months to get the necessary permits and start production, were unable to deliver the necessary amounts. They had to shift from an artisanal production to mass production in just three months.” From this point forward, Giroux would work seven days a week to ensure the SQDC would receive the largest portion of products intended for the Canadian market. “I would take my phone to bed with me. I would call producers daily. It was probably the most stressful time of my life,” she recalls. “I even took up meditation!”
“We didn’t know what to expect, but we certainly didn’t expect to have two armed guards on hand to monitor the delivery! It was surreal!”
- Paul Furfaro, Director, Store Operations
Next, the SQDC began receiving products. In fact, Paul Furfaro, Director of Operations, and Alban Troja, Branch Manager for Montréal’s Saint-Hubert street location, were the first people in all of Canada to receive recreational cannabis products. Furfaro remembers it clearly: “We didn’t know what to expect, but we certainly didn’t expect to have two armed guards on hand to monitor the delivery! It was surreal!”
On October 15 and 16, the excitement at the SQDC was palpable. The branches were finalized, the computer systems were tested over and over again, and the partners, dignitaries, and media were given a sneak peak of the Saint-Hubert street branch.
Jean-François Bergeron vividly remembers the incredible sense of pride he felt during the media launch. “The branch was jam-packed with Québec, American, and European media. There was international interest in the legalization of cannabis. And the SQDC and its model would shine all over the world.”
7 a.m. The e-commerce team and their partner, Orkestra, had their eyes on the website. The website officially launched, and traffic was huge. On the first day, SQDC.ca recorded some 450,000 visits, 27,000 user accounts created, and 30,000 orders placed. That’s 2,000 orders per hour! By comparison, the website currently gets fewer than 2,000 orders a day.
For Eve Larrivée, it was one of the best days of her life, career-wise. “I’ll never forget it. We all felt like we were giving birth to the most important project of our professional lives. We were ready. We had tested everything 100 times. But we didn’t know how big it was going to be.”
9 a.m. Jean-François Bergeron did a tour of all the morning shows, from the break of dawn. He visited the Salut Bonjour set. He remembers it as if it were just yesterday: “There I was on set with the host and the entire team. We were live. They showed footage of all the line-ups all over the province. And then the tech contributor logged into SQDC.ca, again live. And everything was going smoothly. I was overflowing with pride!”
9:59 a.m. Saint-Hubert street, Montréal. “When I saw the line up, I was so happy and excited, but I also knew it would be chaos,” recalls Alban Troja, Branch Manager. Troja gathered his team and gave them a few pointers before assigning them a spot in the store. “Enjoy! We’re making history,” he told them. At 10 a.m. on the nose, customers began pouring into the store. “It was so intense. One customer even left less than 5 minutes later. It was just too much for her,” Troja remembers.
“It was the same everywhere: the ambience was amazing, and there were very long line-ups.”
- Paul Furfaro, Director, Store Operations
Paul Furfaro, Director of Operations, was also present for the Rosemont branch opening. “I was very confident that everything would go smoothly, but seeing such huge line-ups is quite impressive. And in the middle of all this chaos, I made an important realization: SQDC customers are friendly, calm, and very interested,” he confides.
At that specific moment, Furfaro also understood that he had been right in one aspect: “A few weeks before the opening, the managers asked me what keeps me up at night. I immediately said the line-ups. I didn’t know if they would last three hours, three days, or three weeks. In the end, the line-ups are still there, and they’re still keeping me up at night!”
That same day, Furfaro also visited the store on Sainte-Catherine West, in downtown Montréal, as well as the Mascouche, Mirabel, and Marché Central locations. “It was the same everywhere: the ambience was amazing, and there were very long line-ups.”
At 8:59 p.m., there were still dozens of people waiting in line at each of the 12 branches. Most of them had to call on the police for help in order to close safely.
This historical day marked the start of a great adventure that is still going on today. According to Jean-François Bergeron, the SQDC has had a solid foundation from day one. “The first day of operations was confirmation that we had a solid foundation on which we continue to build each day.”
The SQDC sells a range of quality cannabis products with a lower risk level, all of which have been authorized by Health Canada.
Relaxing, stimulating and mood-altering: cannabis can have effects that are pleasant or undesirable. Learn what causes the effects and determines how intense they are and how long they last.
Are you or a friend or family member dealing with a problem related to cannabis use? Several assistance resources are available to you. Take advantage of them!