Cannabis company Canopy Growth closing Tokyo Smoke and Tweed retail stores

Customers shop for cannabis on the opening morning of Tokyo Smoke in Cambridge.

SMITH FALLS, Ont. — Cannabis company Canopy Growth Corp. says it's closing all of its corporate-owned Tokyo Smoke and Tweed stores later today in an effort to help limit the spread of COVID-19.

The company says its 23 corporate stores in Newfoundland, Saskatchewan and Manitoba as well as the Tweed Visitor Centre in Smiths Falls, Ont., will close at 5 p.m. local time today.

The move comes as public health officials urge people to limit contact with others in an effort to help reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Businesses have responded by cutting back and changing their operations as well as finding ways to allow employees to work from home.

Canopy says patients will be able to continue purchasing medical cannabis through Spectrum Therapeutics.

Meanwhile, it says adult consumers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan will able to shop using the Tweed and Tokyo Smoke websites and the other provinces and territories will be supported through government-run retail websites.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 17, 2020