A cannabis producer behind one of a handful of farmgate stores in New Brunswick is closing its doors as it looks to reset its cannabis business from the ground up.
Crystal Cure Inc., a micro cannabis producer in Shediac Cape, New Brunswick, says it will cease its cannabis operations at the end of September, primarily due to delays in securing the financing needed for its planned expansion.
The company’s CEO, Jonathan Wilson, says this is likely not the end of the road for the company but a chance for them to reset their business, building out a new facility that better matches their needs and the realities of market demands.
“Eventually we knew that we were going to have to make a decision,” Wilson tells StratCann.
“We made this decision now before it gets to a point where we can’t meet commitments as we’ve seen happen to others. We are optimistic that this is not goodbye to the legal cannabis industry, but hopefully more of a see-you-soon.”
Jonathan Wilson, Crystal Cure
The company has been operating for several years inside a much larger facility that has remained underutilized. In late 2023, Crystal Cure made the decision to downgrade their licence from a standard to a micro, reflecting that it was already operating with a very small footprint.
The building the company has been operating is 63,000 sq. ft., built at a time when the company was looking at bold early market projections. However, due to this and problems with how the facility was constructed, Crystal Cure wasn’t able to fully utilize the space. Since 2019, the company has also been involved in legal proceedings concerning the construction of its original facility.
“We are still operating out of a tiny, temporary space that was only supposed to be in place for a year,” notes Wilson in a company press release. “However, the construction of our original facility was halted prematurely when the structure was rendered unusable, which now has to be dealt with in a court of law. This has added a lot of costs to a small operation, and also takes away our focus, time, and energy from what matters.”
Wilson adds, “When you combine the added pressure with the current financial ecosystem of the legal cannabis industry, it doesn’t give us enough to be able to survive, let alone generate enough profit from our operations to expand to meet demand. This is one example of the impacts of the short-sighted decisions made by policymakers across the country, impacts that they’ve flat out ignored at both the federal and provincial levels.”
Although the owners had hoped to maintain their current licence while they bring in new investors to build out a new purpose-built facility, Wilson says they had to finally make the tough decision to revoke their licence and shut down operations while they work towards that ultimate goal.
“We love the legal cannabis industry and we believe we will play a part in its future here in Canada,” he explains in a company press release. “However, as ironic as it is, we have to take a step back from it and focus elsewhere in order for us to survive long enough to secure the funding for our expansion. We have found a potential partner that believes in us and understands our vision. We will do whatever is necessary to hang on, even if it means ceasing our current operation and starting again. We are in this for the long-term.”
One thing that had kept the company going over the past year, giving them hope they could hold off this new decision to shut down entirely, was the success of their cannabis farmgate store, Le Backdoor, one of just six in New Brunswick and only a few more in all of Canada.
That’s the part I’m the saddest about,” Wilson tells StratCan. “The supporters of farmgate are the ones who have given us an extra couple of months. This summer has been incredible with new customers and tourists, and the feedback we get has helped let us know we are doing something right. It helped us go a little longer.”
“The part I’m going to miss the most is seeing customers every day.”
In the meantime, Crystal Cure will continue to have a foothold in the cannabis industry through its sister company, Gourmet Chef Packers, which sells living soil, worm castings and other agricultural inputs under the brand Adonis Growing Solutions. Clients include several other licensed cannabis producers.
“We have been working behind the scenes on a project across the parking lot, so to speak, focused on regenerative agriculture and many of the things we hold near and dear.” Wilson adds. “This will allow us to still stay connected to the industry we are so passionate about, while at the same time, being able to work in an exciting environment without the exorbitant excise taxes, fees, and over-regulation that have plagued producers from day one.”
“We managed to survive an additional year longer than we thought, but unfortunately it wasn’t long enough. We made this decision now before it gets to a point where we can’t meet commitments as we’ve seen happen to others. We are optimistic that this is not goodbye to the legal cannabis industry, but hopefully more of a see-you-soon.”
According to Wilson, consumers of Crystal Cures products will have a few more weeks of availability before their limited releases are no longer available.
