Josh Giesbrecht, right, operates a store in Winnipeg's Exchange District. (Submitted photo/Josh Giesbrecht)

By Harriette Halepis

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Ashdown Cannabis rebrands as Ashdown Market

Dec 8, 2023 | 2:29 PM

Noticing a lack of grocery stores in Winnipeg’s Exchange District, Josh Giesbrecht and his partner, TK, decided to increase profits at their cannabis shop, Ashdown Cannabis, by adding grocery items.

The pivot to a grocery store that sells cannabis products had a massive impact on the retailer’s bottom line and, more than that, turned the store (now Ashdown Market) from another cannabis retailer to an essential part of the community.

Before adding grocery items, sales at Ashdown Market were slow.

“On a good day, we would see 30 transactions. Now, on a bad day, we see 70 transactions,” Geisbrecht said.

Rebranding from Ashdown Cannabis to Ashdown Market was an observational move based on the lack of grocery stores in the area. The initial goal was to increase profits, but what Geisbrecht didn’t expect was the community that followed.

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“[the response] from the people of the Exchange District is a tremendous sense of gratitude. I was telling a friend the other day that not once in the cannabis solely retail business did I have customers ask how business is going,” Geisbrecht said,

“…with cannabis combined with grocery I get asked several times a week. You’re seen by your customers as a community centre in grocery, that is not the case when only focused on cannabis in retail.”

As cannabis retailers across Canada look for ways to increase profits, adding other items to shops is a logical move that Geisbrecht notices around him as other cannabis retailers begin to diversify.

“The reaction from cannabis retailers around us is also adding separate product lines outside of cannabis. This pivot was underway prior to us doing this, but it definitely has picked up. I think within the Manitoba market you will see more and more retailers add some form of other products that they can specialise in to increase revenues and market their brand as different…” he said.

With sales slowing and a saturated market, cannabis retailers need to think of ways to not only attract more clients, but to become an integral part of the community. Geisbrecht hinted at more from Ashdown Market in 2024 and added that he’s grateful to the neighbourhood for its support.

“We are extremely grateful that the people of the Exchange District have supported us in evolving from Ashdown Cannabis to Ashdown Market,” he said, “…this is just the beginning.”

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