Fire & Flower Expands Its Retail Cannabis Empire

Alberta-Based, Quebec-Owned Fire & Flower Retail Cannabis Chain Strikes Licensing Deal in US – LPC

Fire & Flower Holdings Corp. is expanding its retail cannabis empire. The Canadian cannabis retailer struck a licensing deal with American Acres Managers to use its branding, store operating system, and Hifyre platform. The Canadian-owned American Acres is based in Palm Springs, California and will operate in California, Nevada, and Arizona, according to its press release. The deal includes an option to buy when the US legalizes cannabis federally.

“The Fire & Flower brand is poised to become a key player in the U.S. cannabis industry,” said Fire & Flower CEO Trevor Fencott. “Our Hifyre technology… places the Fire & Flower brand in a unique position to play a leading role in competitive U.S. cannabis markets.”

According to the Hifyre website, Hifyre provides “the cannabis industries (sic) most advanced retail sales platform, leveraging data to deliver personalized, effective, consumer and partner engagements”. Its profile at Clutch.com describes itself as “the Woz to your Listings” providing software development. Hifyre’s impressive client list includes: Loblaws, Metro, Mattel, Canopy Growth, Tulip Retail, Spinmasters, Novo Nordisk, GSK, Universal Music, Valeant, Ancestry, Puma, Masterlock, K-Swiss, and Canada Dry Motts.

Other point of sale software for cannabis retailers includes Dutchie, which describes itself as the “Shopify for cannabis”.

Fire & Flower Brand Aggressively Growing Its Retail Cannabis Empire

But it’s probably the Fire & Flower brand that’s most important to its retail cannabis empire. Last summer, it launched cannabis convenience stores in Alberta. The move was made possible in part because Fire & Flower is actually majority owned by Couche-Tard, also owner of the Circle K chain of convenience stores. It’s no coincidence that Circle K is also one of the most well-known convenience store brands in the US.

“Since becoming Canada’s largest retail network for legal cannabis products and services, we have strongly positioned our brand… to successfully enter key international markets,” Fencott said. And there is likely no cannabis market more key to its retail cannabis empire than the US cannabis market.

“Securing an agreement that will rapidly place Fire & Flower licensed stores in the United States is the first step in executing our vision well ahead of federal legalization in the United States,” Fencott said. “This strategic agreement is transformative… Fire & Flower will be one of the only cannabis retail brands with its flag flown internationally. We look forward to supporting American Acres on Fire & Flower brand store openings in some of the world’s largest cannabis markets.”

Who Is American Acres Managers?

One of the puzzling aspects is that American Acres Managers is somewhat of a ghost. It doesn’t seem to be listed in any of the regular spots. The website uses a .ca domain – highly unusual for a company operating solely in the US.

It does list 420 Oasis as one of its projects. This cannabis retailer operates in Palm Springs, California, describing itself as Coachella Valley’s premiere (sic) dispensary. It states it is owned by LDJNBW, LLC which is registered with a phone number listed as belonging to a David M Webb at the same address as 420 Oasis.

However, it’s likely a covert US cannabis retail move that Aurora and other companies have organized. That’s done to position themselves in the US market without running afoul of federal law. But it’s hard to tell exactly what the actual deal is. Given the size and reputation of both Couche-tard and Fire & Flower though, you might expect more transparency.

Whatever the case, it’s encouraging to see Canadian companies position themselves globally. Retail cannabis will likely be the next battleground in the cannabis industry. Fire & Flower and its owner Couche-tard already have a head start in the retail cannabis empire building to come.

Click here to view full story at aamanagers.ca

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