New cannabis stores open on Hamilton Mountain, Binbrook

New Cannabis dispensaries have opened on Hamilton Mountain and in Binbrook, adding more options for upper-city customers.

The three new pot shops authorized to open by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) - on Mohawk Road, Rymal Road and on Highway 56 - are all Sessions Cannabis franchises.

Adding to the wave of new dispensaries in late 2020, the city now has 27 retailers.

But while some areas in the city already have a multitude of dispensaries - like the two pot shops on James Street North between York Boulevard and Barton Street, three retailers near Hess Village, and the three retailers near Centre On Barton - other areas have none.

That will change, pending processing licence applications.

If the AGCO approves all of them, the cities dispensaries will more than triple, to 90 pot shops.

The 60-plus retailers looking to open include dozens in the lower city, seven along Upper James Street, two in the Meadowlands in Ancaster and six more in Stoney Creek.

Sessions Cannabis, which has five dispensaries now open in city limits, has three more franchises planned, with applications pending in Dundurn Plaza, on King Street East near Rosedale Avenue and in on Carlisle Road in Carlisle.

If all of those stores open, Hamilton could have more pot shops than the roughly 80 black market dispensaries the city hosted before legal retailers were allowed.