The General
New Member
Washington State - Pacific County's booming cannabis industry expanded to include retail sales with the opening of the first store in Raymond on Tuesday. Mr. Doobees cleared its final state inspection and its paperwork is in the final stages of processing by Washington Liquor Control Board staff. The store expects to be open later this week or early next week.
The store opened will offer marijuana buds or "flowers" to begin with. Baked goods, lemon drops and other edibles won't be on the shelves any time soon, Norris said. "We will carry edibles, but I don't think we'll get anything like that until the first quarter of 2015," he said. Fourteen new manufacturers of edibles or drinkables are about to begin selling products to retailers.
The store isn't licensed for these products yet. Besides, there's a waiting list to get consumable cannabis from suppliers, he said. Norris hopes people who have been buying medical cannabis will start buying from his store. Medical marijuana, he points out, does not have the same testing requirements as recreational pot. It might be tested, it might not. You don't know what pollutants could be in it. The product at the store may cost more because of taxes, but it will be subject to rigorous testing. It also carries tetrahydrocannabinol (TCH) and cannabidiol (CBD) levels on the label, he adds.
Business plan
Norris also hopes to pull in traffic from Oregon. He's already getting inquiries "We have people stopping by here all the time," Norris said. "People from Portland and Astoria. The closest store to us is Porter [in Grays Harbor County], and that's an hour a way." The business plan focuses on breaking even during the lean winter months and making a profit during the busy summer months when traffic on U.S. 101, right out front, soars. "And again, it's the frontier," he said. "We have no idea. We know the metro areas are doing extremely well, but we know there's a difference. We don't have a half a million-plus population to draw from."
Bring your ID
For Mr. Doobees customers it's a simple operation, Norris said. A guard at the door will check identification and ensure the customer is of legal age. They come in one door and their license is scanned. Display cases have pictures of the cannabis and the paraphernalia – including hybrid electronic vaporizers – available for purchase. They take a number, just like at the DMV, and wait to be called.
When their number is called, they move to the purchase room and present their order. Customers can buy as much as an ounce of product. Their license is scanned again. While the order is entered into the computer and the money collected, another staffer fills the order.
The product goes into a sack and the receipt gets stapled to the sack. The customer then exits through a second door. "No cannabis can be opened or utilized on site," Norris said. "We'll show them, 'This is what you're getting ... but you have to exit now. If you open it in your car – drive off.'" And if it feels like somebody's watching you, you're right. There are cameras inside and outside the store. The video surveillance cost Norris $38,000 to install. It runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week and holds 45 days of surveillance. The system has three terabytes of memory with a backup system and offsite recording as well.
Ad and subtract
Advertising the store is tricky, he said. Some marijuana stores in Seattle utilized airplanes with trailing banners. Don't expect anything that brash from Mr. Doobees. "We can't do much advertising," he said. "We can, but we have to be very careful about how we do it." Norris insists on all advertising being cleared through the LCB. He's not risking a claim to the insurance company, Lloyd's of London, because of a penalty from the state. If Lloyds drops the store, finding another insurance company, an LCB requirement, could be insurmountable.
Smell of success
Mr. Doobees has two full-time and two part-time employees, all from Pacific County, Norris points out. He works with locals as much as possible. He said he's never used marijuana and doesn't plan to start. "It's strictly business," he said. "The state population has spoke and the state's created business opportunity in our eyes, so that's why we went after that opportunity." Raymond, city, police and the port have been very welcoming, he said. "We understand why ..." he said. "Once in a lifetime a new industry is created like this that gives a lot of opportunities, so that's why we're here."
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Chinookobserver.com
Author: Mike Williams
Contact: Contact Us
Website: County's First retail marijuana store opening - Chinook Observer
The store opened will offer marijuana buds or "flowers" to begin with. Baked goods, lemon drops and other edibles won't be on the shelves any time soon, Norris said. "We will carry edibles, but I don't think we'll get anything like that until the first quarter of 2015," he said. Fourteen new manufacturers of edibles or drinkables are about to begin selling products to retailers.
The store isn't licensed for these products yet. Besides, there's a waiting list to get consumable cannabis from suppliers, he said. Norris hopes people who have been buying medical cannabis will start buying from his store. Medical marijuana, he points out, does not have the same testing requirements as recreational pot. It might be tested, it might not. You don't know what pollutants could be in it. The product at the store may cost more because of taxes, but it will be subject to rigorous testing. It also carries tetrahydrocannabinol (TCH) and cannabidiol (CBD) levels on the label, he adds.
Business plan
Norris also hopes to pull in traffic from Oregon. He's already getting inquiries "We have people stopping by here all the time," Norris said. "People from Portland and Astoria. The closest store to us is Porter [in Grays Harbor County], and that's an hour a way." The business plan focuses on breaking even during the lean winter months and making a profit during the busy summer months when traffic on U.S. 101, right out front, soars. "And again, it's the frontier," he said. "We have no idea. We know the metro areas are doing extremely well, but we know there's a difference. We don't have a half a million-plus population to draw from."
Bring your ID
For Mr. Doobees customers it's a simple operation, Norris said. A guard at the door will check identification and ensure the customer is of legal age. They come in one door and their license is scanned. Display cases have pictures of the cannabis and the paraphernalia – including hybrid electronic vaporizers – available for purchase. They take a number, just like at the DMV, and wait to be called.
When their number is called, they move to the purchase room and present their order. Customers can buy as much as an ounce of product. Their license is scanned again. While the order is entered into the computer and the money collected, another staffer fills the order.
The product goes into a sack and the receipt gets stapled to the sack. The customer then exits through a second door. "No cannabis can be opened or utilized on site," Norris said. "We'll show them, 'This is what you're getting ... but you have to exit now. If you open it in your car – drive off.'" And if it feels like somebody's watching you, you're right. There are cameras inside and outside the store. The video surveillance cost Norris $38,000 to install. It runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week and holds 45 days of surveillance. The system has three terabytes of memory with a backup system and offsite recording as well.
Ad and subtract
Advertising the store is tricky, he said. Some marijuana stores in Seattle utilized airplanes with trailing banners. Don't expect anything that brash from Mr. Doobees. "We can't do much advertising," he said. "We can, but we have to be very careful about how we do it." Norris insists on all advertising being cleared through the LCB. He's not risking a claim to the insurance company, Lloyd's of London, because of a penalty from the state. If Lloyds drops the store, finding another insurance company, an LCB requirement, could be insurmountable.
Smell of success
Mr. Doobees has two full-time and two part-time employees, all from Pacific County, Norris points out. He works with locals as much as possible. He said he's never used marijuana and doesn't plan to start. "It's strictly business," he said. "The state population has spoke and the state's created business opportunity in our eyes, so that's why we went after that opportunity." Raymond, city, police and the port have been very welcoming, he said. "We understand why ..." he said. "Once in a lifetime a new industry is created like this that gives a lot of opportunities, so that's why we're here."
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Chinookobserver.com
Author: Mike Williams
Contact: Contact Us
Website: County's First retail marijuana store opening - Chinook Observer
