Built With You, Moving With You: A Letter to the Community After 20+ Years on 17th Ave

For over 20 years, our little corner on 17th Ave was never just a store.

Before legalization, before cannabis culture became mainstream, before large corporations entered the industry, independent shops like ours operated through constant uncertainty. Laws changed constantly. Enforcement often changed with them. Businesses like ours were judged long before they were understood.

Back then, everything had to be labelled as “tobacco use,” even when everybody already knew what the deal was. You just had to be cool enough to know.

What many people saw as “just a smoke shop” became something far bigger over time.

This storefront became a meeting place.
A safe place to ask questions and have honest conversations.
A place where people felt comfortable being themselves without judgement during a time where very few businesses were willing to openly support the culture or the people around it.

There were years where simply existing felt like an uphill battle. But despite the scrutiny, the stigma, the changing regulations, and the pressure that came with operating in that environment, we stayed.

We kept building.

A Storefront That Became Part of Calgary Culture

Over the last two decades, these walls became part of countless people’s lives, memories, friendships, careers, and communities in ways we never could have imagined when we first opened the doors.

Some people came in as young adults trying to figure life out and now walk through the doors years later with careers, families, and kids of their own. Others became lifelong friends. Some customers became staff. Some staff became family.

People came here after concerts, before road trips, after breakups, during celebrations, during hard times, or simply because they wanted somewhere familiar to stop by and feel comfortable for a little while.

This building saw thousands of conversations most people will never hear.

It saw people laugh until they cried.
It saw artists get their first opportunities.
It saw people trying to rebuild themselves.
It saw a community form naturally before “community building” became a marketing term.

For over two decades, we hosted events that helped shape local culture in ways that are hard to fully explain unless you lived through it.

From the 2008 High Times Cannabis Cup, to legendary glass showcases featuring artists like Jared Toner, Nish, HippoGlass, Kahuna Glass, Ghost Cat Glass and more, this location became one of the few places where underground art and cannabis culture could exist openly and creatively.

There were Saki Bomb Hacky Sacky Tea Party events, Halloween parties, “Learn How to Roll” nights, fundraisers, parking lot hangs, product launches, artist meetups, and countless moments that never made social media but became unforgettable memories and long lasting relationships to the people who were there.

We were lucky enough to host visits from names like Tommy Chong, Action Bronson, Snow, K.O, and Merkules — but honestly, some of the most important people to this story were the everyday regulars who kept showing up year after year.

The people who supported independent business before it was easy.

The people who believed in us when this industry was still misunderstood.

We Tried to Leave the Area Better Than We Found It

Being in this neighbourhood was not always easy.

There were challenges. There were difficult years. There were moments where it would have been easier to stop caring about the surrounding area entirely.

But we always believed businesses should contribute to the communities they operate in.

We cleaned sidewalks.
We cleaned parking lots.
We picked up garbage that was not ours.
We tried to make the block feel safer.
We tried to create a storefront people felt comfortable walking into.
We tried to support local artists, local makers, and local people whenever we could.

Not because we had to.
Because it mattered to us.

Some people only saw a smoke shop.

What they did not always see was the amount of work, pressure, risk, stress, and persistence it took to keep a business like this alive through decades of changing laws, changing public opinions, economic shifts, rising costs, legalization, corporate competition, and constant uncertainty.

Independent businesses survive because people choose to support them.

And for over 20 years, you supported us.

This Is Not Goodbye

At the end of May, this storefront chapter closes.

That sentence is difficult for us to even write.

17th Ave was our flagship location. It was the first store we opened, and now, over 20 years later, it becomes the last chapter of this era too.

But the story of The Next Level was never built from just one location.

Over the years, we were fortunate enough to build communities throughout Calgary — from 16 years in Bowness to 14 years in Deer Run, alongside the decades spent here on 17th Ave. Every shop had its own energy, regulars, memories, and stories that became part of who we are today.

That history is something we will never take for granted.

There is history in these walls that cannot really be replaced. Some of the best years of our lives happened here. Some of the hardest did too.

But this is not the end of The Next Level.

The industry changed.
Retail changed.
Customer habits changed.

So now we evolve too.

What the Future of The Next Level Looks Like

The next chapter of The Next Level will look a little different — but the goal behind it remains the same.

For years, we have operated from a traditional storefront model. But as the retail landscape, and customer shopping habits evolved, it became clear that the future of the business needed to evolve too.

Moving forward, The Next Level will operate through a much larger warehouse and online-focused system supported by a smaller showroom experience.

What does that mean for customers?

It means access to a larger inventory than we could realistically display inside a traditional retail store. Instead of being limited by shelf space, we can focus on stocking deeper product selection, more variety, harder-to-find items, and maintaining better inventory availability overall.

It also allows us to improve how quickly products move through the business — from receiving and processing inventory to packing orders, organizing local delivery, and shipping products across Canada and internationally.

The online side of the business has grown tremendously over the years, and this new setup allows us to invest into that growth properly.

Customers will still be able to:

• Order online through The Next Level
• Access Calgary pickup options
• Use local Calgary delivery services
• Receive Alberta-wide and Canada-wide shipping
• Continue ordering internationally
• Browse products in a smaller in-person showroom environment 

This move also creates opportunities for us to operate more efficiently behind the scenes.

Instead of dedicating the majority of resources toward maintaining a large storefront footprint, we can invest more directly into inventory, pricing, operations, fulfillment speed, customer service, content creation, online growth, and the overall customer experience.

At the same time, we know The Next Level has never been “just” about products.

For over 20 years, people came to us because of the atmosphere, the culture, the conversations, and the trust that was built over decades in the community.

That does not disappear because the format changes.

The future of The Next Level is not about becoming less personal.

It is about building a system that allows us to continue serving the community long-term while adapting to where retail is heading.

The storefront may become smaller.

But the vision behind it is getting bigger.

Thank You

To everybody who walked through our doors over the last 20+ years:

Thank you for being part of this story.

Thank you to the customers who supported independent business before it was easy.
Thank you to the artists who trusted us with their work.
Thank you to the staff who helped build this place over the years.
Thank you to the regulars who made this store feel alive every single day.
Thank you to everybody who supported us through every challenge, every change, and every chapter.

You helped build more than a business here.

You helped build a community.

And while the address may change, The Next Level is not going anywhere.

We are still here.
And we are still building.