The alleyway deals are probably easier but less common. It is risky to open a storefront but always was.
The entire province of BC had just one single cannabis storefront on day of legalization - despite hundreds of storefronts applying for permits. So customers went from buying weed in storefronts to having to do alleyway deals because of legalization.
https://vancouversun.com/cannabis/cannabis-news/partaking-so...
Nothing changed on the “legal” date.
But I did hear from one store that they were planning to close down, so they could legally apply for a licence and re-open. So the transition wasn’t as smooth as it could have been.
But no one started doing alley way deals “because legalisation”. There was already a large population who simply saw the stores as middle men, who marked up prices. Why buy from a store when you know who the store buys from? And why shouldn’t that continue?
I can buy from the brewery or the liquor store, why should marijuana be any different?