A shopping centre in the English city of Leicester has told a CBD entrepreuner he can’t open a store there.
The Highcross shopping centre turned down Steve Orton, who has been running his business, CBD Global, for 18 months – and he says he feels “victimised”.
He told LeicestershireLive: “I have been trying to get a shop open in the Highcross since the start of the year.
“There seems to be so many empty units and closing shops in the Highcross so I got in contact with their representatives.
“As soon as I mentioned CBD they put the brakes on.”
Steve added that the mall’s team was considering letting him open a pop-up shop instead.
He said: “I’m not here for a pop-up store, I wanted to start up a permanent shop that is pharmaceutically trusted.
“I don’t understand why they wouldn’t give me a shop in the first place, when other stores in there are already selling products containing CBD.”
But in July he says Highcross dropped the pop-up store idea.
A spokesperson from Highcross told the news website: “Our priority is to make sure the retail and leisure brand mix at Highcross is as engaging and compelling as possible.
“When introducing new brands to the destination, like CBD Global, we often use pop-ups and temporary leases, as that allows us to trial the new offer to ensure there’s sufficient demand locally.”
CBD businesses often face problems from the firms they need to deal with in order to trade. Many stores struggle to secure basic banking services thanks to confusion over the legality of CBD.
