A handful of the marijuana businesses granted provisional licenses have informed the Cannabis Control Commission they are ready to be inspected, one of the final steps before retail sales of marijuana, approved by voters almost two years ago, can begin. 

CCC Chairman Steven Hoffman said Thursday that the agency is working to schedule inspections for two or three provisionally licensed businesses. Hoffman said the inspections are expected to take place “over the next week, plus or minus.” 

He said it’s possible the CCC could vote at its next meeting on Sept. 20 to issue a final license if a business passes its inspection and fulfills other requirements by then. 

The chairman noted that such a vote will only take place if the CCC’s inspection team approves the facility and finds that it comports to the law and the agency’s regulations. 

The CCC had hoped to launch the retail marijuana industry in Massachusetts by July 1 but did not meet that target. Since then, Hoffman and CCC officials have refused to provide an updated timeline for when consumers will be able to legally buy marijuana. 

On Thursday, Hoffman again declined to provide a target date and said he has been telling people stores will open in “late summer/early fall.” 

The CCC approved six more provisional licenses on Thursday afternoon – two for retail, two for cultivation and two for product manufacturing. 

Thursday’s commission votes bring the total number of retail stores given provisional approval by the CCC to 11. They are expected to be located in Leicester, Amesbury, Brookline, Northampton, Wareham, Plymouth, Easthampton, Salem, Fall River, Lowell and Greenfield. 

The commission has issued provisional licenses for seven cultivation facilities, which combined will be allowed to grow up to 225,000 square feet of marijuana canopy at a time. Those growing facilities are to be located in Leicester, Amesbury, Franklin, Plymouth, Easthampton, Lowell and Fall River. 

As of Thursday, the CCC had another 95 applications pending before it. Executive Director Shawn Collins said Thursday that there are 21 applications awaiting CCC review, 48 that have been deemed incomplete and returned to the applicant to provide additional information and 26 for which the CCC is waiting to hear back from either its background check vendor or the host community.