And we still have at least 100 store opportunity in Canada alone. This is all before we even enter the U.S. market. So as those 100 stores get built or get acquired and they start to grow, then the same-store sales growth engine is going to start working again.
Andrew Partheniou: Thanks for that color. And then maybe switching gears. You outlined the U.S. opportunity. And of course, now it seems to be topical. Could you outline any kind of catalysts or conditions that you’re looking for to enter to the U.S.? And as well, what are the things that you would not compromise on to enter the U.S. such as maybe a listing?
Raj Grover: Yeah, Andrew. Let me say from the start, okay? We are not going to compromise our NASDAQ listing. It’s a price listing. It’s every operator’s dream to one day trade on the NASDAQ. While we’ve been trading on the NASDAQ for the last three years. And we’re not about to put a risk today just to enter the U.S. market. We’ve got a lot of growth ahead of us in Canada alone. Let me tell you this that I cannot express my excitement enough of what our business would look like, when we can enter the U.S. and this may happen in the medium term now. Again, I like to be cautious in sort of making big statements. I’m confident about my business model. But again, we are at the mercy of rescheduling happening and the Safe Banking Act taking place.
And also here, if the Safe Banking Act goes through, there’s possibilities for NASDAQ — exchanges such as NASDAQ to allow plant-touching businesses and the same can happen with rescheduling as well. So we’re very, very hopeful these things can take place, but we’re not absolutely counting on it because we’ve got another 100 store growth ahead in Canada alone. But to answer your question, we are not going to sacrifice our NASDAQ listing, NASDAQ gives us that liquidity that we are very excited about. And given all of the momentum in the U.S., we might very well get this opportunity sooner than what we were hoping originally. So we are very, very focused. Our government relations team is closely monitoring the progress of both rescheduling and the Safe Banking Act through our membership in the National Cannabis Industry Association and discussions with other industry players in media, it’s ongoing.
So we’re keeping a close eye, we’ll see how this whole thing pans out, but we’re excited one way or the other, we don’t do anything in the U.S. for the next two years, we can probably add $200 million to $300 million in Canada alone.
Andrew Partheniou: Appreciate that color. I’ll get back in the queue.
Operator: Thank you, Andrew. We will now take our next question from Scott Fortune from ROTH MKM. Scott, your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Scott Fortune: Yeah. Good morning and thank you for the questions. Congratulations on continuing to execute, as you’ve said going forward here. But I wanted to continue on the U.S. side since we’re down here in the U.S. and focusing on that positive momentum. You mentioned the Schedule III potential rescheduling there, Safe Banking, we get a garland memo that can kind of maybe open up the uplifting to the U.S. But more importantly, kind of how do you prioritize, let’s say, this does come on board in ’24 or you have opportunity move in the U.S. How do you look at it strategically moving into the U.S. with replicating your model you’ve done in Canada? And then prioritizing the opportunity of continued growth in Canada with the opportunity in the U.S.? Just kind of give us some thoughts of what you’re thinking about that for the future there, Raj, that be great.
Raj Grover: Hi, Scott. And thank you for your question. So Scott, look, Canada is the immediate focus, and we have a lot of growth ahead of us, and I don’t think U.S. happens tomorrow morning or overnight. But let’s just say it was to happen mid next year some time. we have built some great relationships in the U.S. We’ve been cannabis operators for the last 15 years almost. And we know all of the players big, medium and small-sized operators in the U.S. We’ve been speaking to multiple operators to execute on an option style agreement, but we’ve held on to it very responsibly because we didn’t want to issue more equity or raise dilutive capital right now just to put a deposit down on a portfolio of stores. But I can very confidently tell you that we’ve got more than a couple of operators in our Rolodex that we can execute on and enter the United States and invert all of those existing stores into our winning discount club model.
So that will be our approach going into the U.S. We’re not going to wait building stores in the U.S. organically one at a time. We’ve got a better strategy. And I don’t want to give up a whole bunch of that strategy on this call today. But I can tell you that we remain very, very confident for when the U.S. opportunity arises, U.S. will take priority for us because that is the most exciting market for us. Absolutely, but in the meanwhile, we’re going to continue to crush it in Canada and continue to build more momentum in Canada because the more size and scale we get in this country the more we’re able to — we’ve tried, tested and perfected our model here. So now it’s plug and play for us in the U.S. We know exactly what to do. We are finding at half the gross margins here in Canada and winning.
Given — once we get that opportunity to plant or flag in the U.S., I think we’ll be exceeding expectations. But we’ll leave it up to when that actually happens, but we will prioritize U.S. growth over everything when that opportunity arises.
Scott Fortune: Got it. Appreciate that color. That’s helpful. And then real quick to shift on — you saw good acceleration on the lead member growth obviously, that pickup is continuing going forward. Is that primarily tied to expanding the product offering for those unique customers? Just a little bit of color on what’s driving to pick up and kind of the future cadence or target describers that you look, you could call them on board with the ELITE offering there?
Raj Grover: Yeah. Absolutely, Scott. So over the last couple of calls, we’ve mentioned that ELITE sign-ups cannot grow overnight because 1% to 2% of our existing inventory at that time. Let’s just take last quarter, for example, we’re reflecting ELITE products. So when you have such cool products in the stores and you’re showcasing these member prices versus market prices, and you just have 1% of ELITE inventory, yes, the ramp-up is going to be slow and steady. But as we continue to focus on ELITE, which remains a major focus for our company, last quarter, we signed 5,500 members instead of 4,000 the prior quarter, and I believe roughly 3,500 the quarter before. And this was because we added more ELITE focused inventory, more ELITE focused in-store store offerings, which is making it very difficult for our customers to say no to ELITE memberships.
And we’re also incentivizing our bud tenders to do so, which they are very excited about. So we feel that this momentum is going to continue. And we will have more and more sign-ups going forward. And again, I want to remind the listeners and our investors that ELITE remains to be over a 70% gross margin opportunity for our company. So as these sign-ups grow and we get this cash in advance for the entire year from our customers, it is also going to help our margins and cash flow going forward.
