Things should get rolling at Windsor’s first legal pot shop by the start of November.

Kyriakos (Kirk) Anastasiadis said Wednesday his new joint at 545 Ouellette Ave. should be past regulatory hurdles, renovated, stocked and open by Nov. 1.

“I’m just excited to get working on this and bringing some good business and positivity to the downtown Windsor core,” said Anastasiadis, 30, who owns several bars and restaurants in London.

Anastasiadis was one of 42 applicants selected in the most recent Ontario lottery last month to receive a retail pot store licence, assuming all the regulatory requirements are met.

A dozen of those applicants have since been disqualified for failing to submit required documents in time. Another one withdrew the application.

“I wasn’t disqualified, so that’s a good next step,” said Anastasiadis, who plans on moving to Windsor to run the store. “I got all my applications in, then the next step is they’re going to do an interview, and then it’s the build.”

As long as he passes the final inspections, Anastasiadis said he will be ready to go by the end of next month.

“In the application for the cannabis dispensary you have to propose a set date for inspection, and as of right now that is end of October, Nov. 1,” he said. “The AGCO is going to come in and do this inspection, then they’ll let you know if you’re ready to go or what changes you have to make to the store.”

One of his biggest jobs before November will be renovating the store.

“It’s a lot of cosmetic,” said Anastasiadis. “Rip out the floor and put a new floor in. Basically beautifying the place.”

The regulations require storeowners to have a vault for storing inventory, but Anastasiadis said that’s already taken care of.

“Being an old bank, there’s actually a vault built into it,” he said. “That takes a lot of the steps out of the way as long as the vault is up to code.”

Anastasiadis must officially receive his licence before buying inventory, but he said the product should arrive quickly once the order is in.

“They set you up with their wholesaler from the (Ontario Cannabis Store), then you put in your order,” he said. “They do weekly deliveries.”

That first order will likely be a big one.

“I believe the first order is allowed to be up to 100 kilos,” said Anastasiadis.

That includes all cannabis products from oils and mouth sprays to pre-rolled joints. Anastasiadis said he also plans to sell edibles once they hit the legal market.

Promising a “welcoming” space akin to an Apple store, he said opening a cannabis retail outlet feels like a logical next step after the hospitality business.

“I’m mainly a bar and restaurant guy,” said Anastasiadis. “I know it’s considered a retail store. But for me it kind of falls in line with the whole hospitality industry.

“It’s obviously great when you can get into a business from the forefront. That was kind of what excited me.”