A line of cannabis dispensaries that made a big splash across Ontario appears to be going the way of the dodo, with all locations in the province but one closing down for good.
Could it be? The dispensary boom that’s made Toronto the butt of wide-spread jokes over the years (which we laughed along with, because, when there’s a dispensary every 200 metres, you find yourself laughing a lot for whatever reason,) is finally coming to an end?
Well, not exactly.
When cannabis was finally legalized in Canada back in 2018, it took infinite patience and a healthy amount of tongue-holding to convince my parents that the good-old devil’s lettuce isn’t bad or evil, and that the people who use it aren’t (exclusively) grubby hippies. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a grubby hippie anyway.
It wasn’t until strolling through Rosedale one day that my mom and I stumbled upon Ottawa-based dispensary chain Superette‘s first Toronto location that her eyes were opened to a whole new image of cannabis. I still haven’t managed to get her to actually use it, but I’ll take small victories.
Entirely groundbreaking for the time, Superette’s locations were, to put it quite simply, extremely cute.
The 1950s grocery store-inspired aesthetic, with its faux household products, white subway tiles and red grouting, almost instantly eroded the concept of dispensaries as dirty or dingy places and helped to cement their status as newly legitimized businesses in Canada.
Joining your classic pre-rolls, flower and edibles at Superette, you could also find a full suite of stylish merchandise, no doubt prompted by the instant fanfare the business received regarding its branding and aesthetic.
Their locations even contained phones that had direct lines to local pizza and burger joints for when the munchies inevitably hit. It was like the weed version of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, sans Oompa Loompas (unless you smoked too much).
In a sobering turn of events, though, it appears as though Superette is not much longer for this world, as all Toronto locations for the brand have officially disappeared, being replaced by Value Buds.
Except for my beloved Rosedale location, that is, which has since become a Juno veterinary clinic.
As far as Superette’s folding goes, the writing first appeared on the walls back in 2022, when the brand filed for bankruptcy, and was later put up for sale.
In 2023, the brand was purchased by SNDL, Canada’s largest private sector liquor and cannabis retailer, who own a number of cannabis brands, including retail brands Spiritleaf and, as fate would have it, Value Buds.
The brand acquisition would prove to be a brief one, though, as, less than two years later, Superette would be all but obsolete, with, evidently, just one location in Ottawa, and a number of errant neon signs and white-tiled floors remaining.
At the time of publication, SNDL has not responded to a request for comment on the closures and has not provided any further information on what the future of Superette holds- if it has a future at all.
Superette formerly had Toronto locations in Rosedale as well as on Spadina, Dundas West and Dupont.
