East Coast Lifestyle Moves Into Cannabis Market
HALIFAX — East Coast Lifestyle began in 2003 as a clothing brand but has started to expand into new products and partnerships. Its name can now be found on potato chips and beverages throughout Atlantic Canada and beyond.
Now, the Halifax-based company is preparing to officially launch and promote its brand of CBD oil, in partnership with P.E.I.-based Retro Cannabis.
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“It’s been a bit of a soft launch into stores over the last week and now we’re about to start using social media to build it up and grow the awareness of it,” said East Coast Lifestyle founder and CEO Alex MacLean.
“I’m really pumped to work with Retro and produce local products.”
The new cannabis product contains only 1 mg/ml of THC, meaning it isn’t meant to get you high. MacLean says he hopes East Coast Lifestyle CBD Oil will help with anxiety issues and getting a good night’s sleep.
“I’m able to work with it and go to sleep with it,” said MacLean. “It’s been a great product for my wife and me. We have trouble getting to sleep some nights; this helps us get to bed earlier.”
“A lot of people don’t want the THC. As a brand, we didn’t want to get into the marijuana stuff, we wanted to get into the CBD world, particularly.”
Since East Coast Lifestyle also promotes an outdoor, active lifestyle, MacLean also felt it would be appropriate to focus on an oil with heavy CBD concentration.
“That’s why we didn’t want to come out with a high THC product. We wanted to focus on getting people a good lifestyle CBD product they can go on a hike with,” said MacLean.
East Coast Lifestyle CBD Oil is already available across Atlantic Canada and will soon move into Alberta and Ontario markets. As a bonus, thanks to Retro’s connections, MacLean and company were also able to get their oil into the Yukon.
“Retro already had some of their products sold in the Yukon and when they showed it to the buyers of the Yukon cannabis, they loved the product,” said MacLean.
The product may be only coming out now but for Retro Cannabis and East Coast Lifestyle the launch was a year in the making. During that time, the two companies sampled different oils and worked on government approvals.
Twenty-twenty-three also promises to be a big year for the Maritime company. Next Spring, East Coast lifestyle expects to complete its new, two-acre headquarters in Bayer’s Lake.
RELATED: East Coast Lifestyle Building New Bayer’s Lake Headquarters
The property won’t be a typical clothing headquarters, however. MacLean wants to make it a destination spot complete with a coffee shop and basketball court.
MacLean also hinted that a new “top secret” product will be unveiled around the same time. The East Coast Lifestyle founder believes more quality products will increase his brand’s recognition.
“The chips got us into 2500 stores across North America. With the beverages, we got into about 400 liquor stores, that allowed the clothing brand to grow incrementally from all the new brand awareness.”
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].