Cookies to open stores in London, Vienna and Portugal

Cookies, the iconic cannabis brand from California, recently announced that it would be opening stores across Europe, the first being in London and Vienna.

The iconic American brand builds on its partnership with the Israeli cannabis company Intercure, which has already opened a Cookies flagship in Tel Aviv. Together, the two companies will open Cookies-branded CBD and medical cannabis stores, with a view to turning them into pharmacies to serve the booming european cannabis market. Intercure operated Cookies stores in Israel with a similar business model.

The first Cookies store is expected to open in London in the spring, although there are no details on where. The company has announced that, in order to keep red tape to a minimum, it will start by selling only its own brand of CBD products, with the pharmaceutical part of the business to be opened as UK regulations evolve.

By discussing deployment and initial product offering with BusinessCann, Intercure CEO Alexander Ravinovitch said: «Vaping is a very important part of the strategy, so we will also be launching some high-quality vaping products. Eventually, and as its licenses and regulations develop, Intercure plans to evolve these stores into what we call a pharmacy base. Once regulations are in place, we'll also be able to serve the patient community with high-THC products. We'll start with medical products, and we have a wide range. We believe that in the UK and Austria there is huge potential and support for Cookies branded products.»

Ravinovitch went on to highlight how the UK medical community must first build confidence in cannabis as a safe and effective treatment if the UK is to replicate the success of the Israeli medicinal cannabis market.

«We believe that what has happened in Israel, the process we've seen here in Israel coming from tight, ultra-medical and very strict regulations, and the openness and trust building within the physician and patient communities, will happen in Europe.»

He went on to say, «Regulations are very important. Regulations go hand in hand with support from physicians and the physician community. And I think once you have the right regulations in place and the physician communities have enough confidence in GMP medical cannabis products, we'll probably see the same trends in all the major territories. Israel is a few years ahead of all other international markets and truly represents the future of international cannabis. The local competitive landscape is very active, and we've seen growth from the start. This has kind of paved the way for support from the physician communities, and also from the patient side.»

On his Instagram, Cookies founder Berner also mentioned that a store would be opening in Portugal.

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