Little Leaf celebrates four fantastic years in Stratford

Paul Thompson and Leanne McPhie are gleefully delighted to celebrate their fourth-year anniversary at Little Leaf Cannabis Co. Inc.

Stratford’s very own Little Leaf Cannabis Co. Inc. celebrated its fourth anniversary in December 2024.

“It’s (lasted) a lot longer than what we thought it was going to be,” joked Paul Thompson, co-owner of Little Leaf.

When Little Leaf opened in 2020, they started with 700 Stock Keeping Units (SKUs), an alphanumeric code assigned to each unique product in store, and an uphill battle. The newly rolled out regulations were stringent and, to this day, do not allow cannabis advertising. There was a large population of people who did not know what legal cannabis was going to look like and a plan for a maximum of four cannabis stores in Stratford.

Fast forward to today and there are now nine cannabis shops in Stratford, but business is booming.

“The main progression has been inventory,” said Thompson. “When we opened the store, we had 700 SKUs in total … now we have over 5,000 SKUs. I believe that 5,000 number allows us to diversify, so that when you walk into our store, you get a selection of choice.”

At Little Leaf, customers are like family and the education of legal cannabis is a main priority.

“I was a really late consumer to cannabis” said Leanne McPhie, the other co-owner of Little Leaf. “I used it a lot for wellness, and I just wanted to make sure that we had the ability to share the fascinating plant that it is with as many people as we could.”

What makes Little Leaf unique is their passion for supporting local craft-cannabis producers.

“There’s a craft designation in our industry … meaning it was grown in a space smaller than 10,000 square feet. Everything is hand-trimmed, packaged and hung to dry. Those might not seem … very impactful … but speeding up that process can be detrimental to the quality of the product,” Thompson said.

“A manufacturer, their whole goal is to get as much product out there as much as possible; … they are there for the product. The smaller, licensed producers are there for the consumer. They are there to take their time, hands-on approach, hand-trimming the flower … using local techniques … to get that product.”

The future for Little Leaf is bright. With plans of expanding and adding more stores in Stratford, expect to see the town painted purple – Little Leaf’s signature colour – with the success of this friendly, unique, local cannabis shop.