Starting a Cannabis Dispensary in Ontario: What New Owners Need to Know

Opening a cannabis dispensary in Ontario is a bold and exciting move. You’re joining a fast-evolving industry, building a brand from scratch, and creating a community space in a regulated environment. But for many owners, the first year reveals challenges they never saw coming. From shifting rules to unexpected tech headaches, almost everyone ends up saying the same thing: “I wish I’d known this before I started.”

Here’s what dispensary owners across Ontario wish someone had told them sooner, and how to prepare for it.

Regulations Change. Frequently.

When you first study the AGCO guidelines, it can feel like you’ve mapped out the road ahead. But the reality is, cannabis retail regulations shift more often than most anticipate; you might invest in a promotional strategy or store signage that complies perfectly one month, only to find out it's non-compliant the next. These shifts often come with little warning and can disrupt everything from your marketing efforts to your day-to-day operations.

Some owners find themselves scrambling to update loyalty programs, swap out printed menus, or reconfigure how they display accessories, sometimes at considerable cost. The dispensaries that stay ahead are the ones that treat compliance as a continuous process, not a checkbox at launch.

Tip: Assign someone (even if it’s you) to check AGCO updates every month. Join local owner forums or Slack groups to stay in the loop and catch regulation changes early.

You’ll Rely on Your Tech Stack a LOT

Most owners think of their POS as just a transaction tool. In reality, your entire store runs on your tech stack: everything from compliance reports and real-time inventory to employee permissions, customer orders, and shift logs ties back to the software you choose.

When your tech fails, the ripple effects are brutal: delayed checkouts, mismatched menus, compliance reports that don’t match actual inventory, and worst of all, frustrated staff who stop trusting the system. If you’re constantly double-checking numbers, refreshing your POS, or manually correcting discrepancies, you’re losing valuable time and money.

Tip: Don’t choose tech based on cost alone. Ask vendors for cannabis-specific workflows, reporting tools for AGCO audits, and real-world examples from other Ontario retailers. The right platform makes your store smoother and the wrong one slows everything down.

Customer Experience Is Everything

In cannabis retail, your staff are not just there to ring people through. They’re the heart of your brand. A great budtender makes customers feel seen, understood, and comfortable, whether they’re seasoned shoppers or first-timers, and a not-so-great one can make the entire experience feel cold, confusing, or judgmental.

Customers will remember if your team can’t explain the difference between a CBD softgel and a 1:1 edible, and they’ll notice if your menus are outdated, or if the checkout process is clunky; with so much competition in Ontario, they won’t always give you a second chance.

Tip: Run regular training sessions and product refreshers with your staff, build a culture where it's okay to ask questions, and share what they’re hearing from customers. Well-informed staff create confident shoppers.

Margins Are Thin. Plan for Every Dollar.

Cannabis retail might look lucrative from the outside, but once you're inside, the numbers tell a different story. Between excise taxes, AGCO fees, security costs, payroll, and promotional budgets, margins can shrink fast, especially if you're not careful with your purchasing and pricing strategy.

New store owners often overspend on decor, buy too much of the wrong product, or forget to leave a buffer for slow months. Others underprice top-selling SKUs or miss out on bundling strategies that drive higher order values.

Tip: Keep a tight grip on costs in your first year. Build conservative projections, focus on fast-moving SKUs, and watch metrics like average order value and inventory turnover closely. A few small wins each month can make a big difference at year-end.

You’re Building a Brand, Not Just a Store.

With over a thousand cannabis stores in Ontario, the strongest dispensaries aren’t just the ones with good products; they’re the ones that customers remember. Your brand is how people describe you to friends, how they feel when they visit, and what sticks in their minds after they leave.

That brand shows up everywhere: in the language your budtenders use, the tone of your Instagram captions, the way your store looks from the street, and how fast someone can find your hours online. In summary, it's the soul of your business.

Tip: Define your brand’s personality early. Are you modern? Chill? Educational? Carry that tone into every customer touchpoint, from menus and receipts to music playlists and your loyalty cards.

Kurli was built by dispensary operators who’ve been through this first year already. The growing pains, the regulation shifts, the long nights troubleshooting buggy POS systems — we lived all of it. That’s why Kurli helps solve these problems out of the box, so your first year feels like a launchpad, not a landmine.

Starting and running a dispensary is no small feat, but you don’t have to learn everything the hard way. With the right tools, the right team, and a little foresight, your first year can set the tone for long-term success.