The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, Feb. 10, edition that January marked the first month not a single new pot shop opened its doors to the public in Ontario. The Globe's Jason Kirby writes in the Decoder column that it is the latest sign that a reckoning may be coming to an industry where expectations outpaced the market for legal marijuana. In January, 2020, the Ontario government created an open licensing system for pot stores to replace the controversial lottery that existed before. That set off a flurry of store openings. The pace of expansion peaked in July, 2021, when 110 new stores opened, then slowed dramatically last year. As of last month, Ontario had 1,600 cannabis stores in operation. Observers have long expected a shakeout, citing a glut in some markets that has helped push down prices for legal marijuana products and hurt margins. Yet while more than 110 pot shops shut their doors last year, the pace of closings has also dropped off. Fears about market saturation have not been enough to deter new entrants. As of last week, more than a dozen applications for new cannabis store licences in Ontario were at the public review stage.