Portland, I have seen your future and it is mildly impressed.
As you’ll know by now, Oregon opened up recreational marijuana sales for the first time in its history at midnight, and a handful of retailers who weren’t cowed by nonexistent regulations went for it—splaying their doors promptly at 12:01, offering muffins, donuts, and ham pinwheels, and cheerfully pushing marked-up buds on willing customers.
Remember 15 months ago, when Washington opened up pot sales? No? Well I do. In Vancouver that day, there was just one pot store. A band played on the corner, and the mayor showed up, and people chuckled about how they were going to frame the first legal buds they ever bought in their lives.
This is not that. If the dozens who lined up outside of Shango near the airport last night are any indication, people are used to this buying legal pot thing—just not so used to it they’d forego heading out late to buy a bag in their own god damn state.
- The masses outside Shango, which is ingeniously located by the airport.
“It’s pretty monumental I guess,” one longhaired kid at Shango basically whispered when I asked what he thought, while behind me a large man in pajamas worried loudly that a news photographer might snap him on the scene. “That’s all I need, my picture on the front of the Oregonian,” he said.
Buck up, Portland! It’s October 1, and history’s being made, and the Mercury‘s very serious about history. We’ve hand-picked a crack squad to bring you the latest from this auspicious day. Stay tuned. DIRK VANDERHART
Our full coverage appears after the jump, and on a similar tip, don’t miss this week’s awesome legalization comic, this guide to what you need to know about recreational sales, and our first-ever Oregon Cannabis Guide!
2 pm—There are eight people flipping through Dope magazine and the Mercury‘s Weed issue, sitting on couches and chairs made of reclaimed bicycle parts in the waiting room, light instrumental trip-hop flits through the air as folks wait for their name to be called, at which point a helpful, smiling bud-tender will shake their hand and escort them into the back room to buy legal weed. “Way busier than normal,” said co-owner John Kirk, of the extremely chill Belmont Collective, open since March.
This is a family operation, John’s older brother Ben Kirk brought in family and close friends to help run the joint (hehe). His childhood friend Michael Lennon also slings. The familial vibe feels like a neighborhood bar, regular customers are greeted by name with a familiar fistbump. “When these guys first opened it was March Madness so we were in here watching the games, like, everyday,” remarked regular James Smat owner of HidePDX. Smat chose the Belmont Collective as one of the only vendors of his reclaimed-material, hand-made vape pen sleeves.
This is the future of artisanal marijuana cottage industry, my friends.
Everything about this shop is local and throwback. There are pictures of early Portland history, maps and black and white images from this 100-year old Port city. The walls of the shop are adorned with reclaimed bicycle and wood art, made by the Kirk Brother’s cousin’s company, the aptly named: Visual Stimulation. Out front is a twirling red-and-white barber’s shop pole—an echo of the store’s medical values. The vintage qualities of the shop extend to the names embroidered on each employees shirt, a hat-tip to the values of service from a 1950s gas station attendant. I bet these guys would sell you a pre-roll and shine your shoes if you asked real nice.
When my short 10-15 minute wait is up (beats the hell out of a brunch line), I head to the back room with one of the owners, Ben, and he grabs my ID (again? ok) and quickly gives me the run down. The recreational side of the backroom is limited to flower only, seven grams a person, per day; hence the second ID check. Ben describes the strain selection lovingly. A sativa-dominant hybrid fan myself, Ben steers me toward “Qrazy Train,” which he says will keep me laughing, and a Cannabis Cup award-winning “Gorilla Glue” which longtime potheads say feels like getting high for the first time. Grams run 10-12 bucks, with $10 pre-rolls.
It’ll be exciting in the coming months to see how dispensaries start honing their personalities. For family businesses like Belmont Collective, they’ll keep doing their thing, attracting the neighborhood regulars, folks who appreciate the vintage aesthetic and just plain old weed-loving (and sometimes sports-loving) folks. The Kirk Brothers and friends at the Belmont Collective knows exactly who they are. BRI PRUETT
12:46 pm—I’m pretty sure Uplift Botanicals (5421 NE 33rd) is the closest dispensary to my house, so I was particularly interested to check this place out. It’s got convenience going for them on more than one front: When forced by circumstance to buy very expensive groceries, Uplift is just across the street from New Seasons (and the liquor store, if you’re into that), and has a symbiotic next-door neighbor in Mary Jane’s House of Glass.
In fact it was a guy repping Jane’s who greeted me first, set up at a table outside. They’re running a scavenger hunt today only, with prizes that include—wait for it—WEED. Plus they’re giving out ice cream sandwiches!
Maybe it was the later hour but this was the only place I visited that seemed truly slammed, and the atmosphere was convivial. Everyone here was visibly stoked, but my favorites were the 30-something guy who came in with his parents. Told there’d be a 15-minute wait, he looked at them to see if they were up to it. “Yes!” his mom said, “I wanna do this!” Also adorable was the young guy who responded when the receptionist called is name and asked if he was ready: “I was born ready!”
A model of efficiency, Uplift also has a menu for you to peruse in the lobby, with 11 strains available for recreational purchases. It helps to keep things simple that they’re all priced the exact same at $12 a gram (you can also get a pre-rolled gram for the same price, or a pre-rolled .5 gram for $7, which was all I needed (I’m full up on sativas so I got an Apple Kush for an indica contrast.
The woman checking everyone in said it had been nuts in there since they opened at 11 am, and I bet it’s just going to get busier and more festive as the day goes on, especially when the after-5 crowd sheds their ties and hits the shops. ‘Tis a good day to get high, indeed. MARJORIE SKINNER
11:26 am—Weed is legal in Portland, but plenty of folks are still buying weed in Washington. Floor manager Steve Schorr has estimated that approximately sixty customers have come in during the first hour of business, and says that’s normal. The Vancouver business, though, seems surprised at its own success. “We thought that went legalization went through in Oregon we’d be toast,” says Main Street’s budmaster Ed Givens. “Instead, it’s exploded. So, who knows?”
Vancouver’s Main Street Marijuana has been operating for a year now, and it shows. A staff member stands at the door checking IDs, and the brightly-lit store is abuzz with customers on a Thursday morning. The store boasts over fifty types of weed, charging $20 for an eighth. Washington vendors do have to deal with some hefty taxes that Oregon weed businesses won’t have to, but the ‘Couve still has one big advantage on Portland: Edibles.
“In Oregon they’re not going to be able to have edibles or concentrates for another year,” says Givens, “so if anything people are going to be coming up here for that, but also we’re well ahead of the game in terms of selection.” A variety of cookies, sweets, oils, and crackers all line the glass cases of the Vancouver store, many with the names of specific strains and THC content clearly labeled. If you want to get stoned from pastries, Vancouver is the place to go.
Schorr and Givens estimated that in their past year of business, about forty to fifty percent of their customer base has been from Portland. Givens said that it was too early to tell how legalization in Oregon would effect the business, and emphasized that the industry is still just now getting off the ground. According to Schorr and Givens, though, the big competition isn’t Portland’s pot shops. “It’s the streets,” says Schorr, emphatically. Both emphasized that offering prices and customer experience that competed with street vendors was much more of a concern than anything other retail establishments are doing.
“Since Oregon’s so new, people are going to have to find out to get good weed,” says Schorr, who seems to place a great deal of confidence in his store’s selection and customer service. “We’ve kind of spoiled them… This has been a great ride. We enjoy it. The competition is just part of capitalism.” JOE STRECKERT
11:15 am—Silver Stem Cannabis, 1926 NE 40th, is ready for a big first day of opening the store to recreational customers. They’ve brought in extra staff and set up a second point of sale for people, says owner Mike Chappell. Silver Stem opened in May and has a regular medical marijuana clientele; Chappell says existing medical patients will go to the front of the line (tell the security guy who’ll be at the door checking IDs) and new patients will be given first priority after existing patients.
“We don’t really know what to expect, but I think it’ll be a big day,” Chappell says. “We beefed up our supply a little bit to make sure we’ve got enough to last for a while today.”
They’ve got 20 strains on the shelves and should have eight more to offer by next week. Normal business hours run until 8 pm, but Chappell says they’ll stay open til 9 pm today if customers are still coming.
The atmosphere inside is professional and polished. Chappell and his crew spin records all day and say they invite others to make a choice from their extensive vinyl collection while they wait. They’ve got musical selections from jazz to Led Zeppelin and a bunch of stuff in between. SHELBY R KING
10:46 am—I check out the nearby Cannabliss in an old firehouse on SE 7th. This place has always intrigued me; it purports to be Portland’s first cannabis dispensary, and I’ve always wanted to see what it’s like inside.
The vibe is crunchier and more laid-back than Farma. In the foyer there’s a guy checking IDs as between-station static comes out of the radio. I go into the back and there’s actual music on the speakers, of the ’90s pot-smoking college-student variety. 311 and Cake. I’m getting flashbacks. 10:54 am—Once I’m in the back room, the small line appears to be younger and slightly more hippie than that at Farma.
Everyone’s a little shyer, too, but pretty stoked on legal weed. The bud is kept in large, shared jars behind the counter; there’s a little bit of a traffic jam as the different budtenders sometimes need to get something from the same jar. But by and large, this is another pleasant experience. My budtender is super nice, able to find an appropriate strain and excited by the day. “I wonder if a lot of people are calling in sick,” I say. “I hope so!” she replies.
Grams are a little more expensive here—$15 a pop. I’m told that if I come back tomorrow they’ll be giving away free pre-rolled joints to customers. I’m out the door with something called The Real McCoy.
This is all pretty fun. Apart from waiting in line, the consumer experience is pretty enjoyable. Everyone’s in a good mood. But here’s what strikes me as odd: Both my budtenders are friendly, informative, and patient. It felt wrong to walk out of there without tipping them. I toss a buck to any barista who hands me an empty paper cup for some drip coffee; same goes for any surly bartender who takes 20 seconds out of his day to pour me a beer. These budtenders are knowledgable and cordial, and I took up far more of their time. Where’s the tip jar? These hardworking people deserve ’em. NED LANNAMANN
10:43 am—I fully expected to be carded when I arrived at Alberta Green House (1313 NE Alberta) for my second legal cannabis purchase of the day. But when the handsome, clean-cut fella I forked my ODL over to mentioned he was going to use it to “create my profile,” I asked him to elaborate.
Thing you should know: The state of Oregon is enlisting dispensaries to track who is buying how much weed to “create statistics” as well as monitor for over-consumption, so if you were planning on gaming the system and surpassing your allotted seven grams per day by spreading it around at different dispensaries (why do you need so much weed) you should probably rethink that strategy.
Like at Collective Awakenings, AGH’s small lobby was filled with recreational customers, including a totally average looking middle aged man and a classic prototype of the Alberta Hippie Lady (telltale sign: one or more items of clothing bearing patchwork)—it was a steady stream if not exactly a line out the door, and definitely more action than on your typical Thursday morning. (Note: AGH recently expanded their hours, opening at 10 instead of 11 am… they also said they’ll have to see how it goes but are considering staying open as late as midnight.
Strain selection (12) and pricing was more or less equivalent to Awakenings—you can score a gram here for as little as $10 or as much as $20, and as soon as I said “sativa” the man behind the counter produced a single jar with the utmost confidence that it would do me right. I respect the expertise of budtenders in such matters (I’m also trying to get used to caring/having more than two choices: weed or no weed), and so forked over $15 for a strain named after the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town (Jack Skellington), which sounds legit enough to me.
HOT TIP: Right now the pre-rolled fatties are just five bucks, but not for long. They’ll probably jump to $7.50-8 each for recreational customers, so you might wanna get it while the getting’s good.
Another bonus: There is a Mexican food cart wedged wall-to-wall with AGH, should you have the foresight to anticipate your post-smoke appetite. Solid strategies all around. MARJORIE SKINNER
9:34 am—When I arrive at Farma (916 SE Hawthorne) a half hour before its 10:00 opening time, there’s only one other guy waiting. But within minutes, there’s soon a line of excited potential tokers stretching behind us. By the time the dispensary opens, the feeling is festive and friendly; employees at Farma are handing out (non-medicinal) cookies and everyone in the line is all smiles, even before they’ve gotten their hands on any weed.
The man waiting in front of me tells me about the time he almost got busted back in the late ’60s. At only 18 years old he was facing a potential 10-year jail sentence, simply for possession of a joint. It feels like a real page has been turned; I don’t think anyone is more excited by the new recreational weed laws than the lifers. And deservedly so.
Farma, it turns out, is kind of a media circus (all things being relative, of course). Noelle Crombie from the Oregonian and Nigel Jaquiss from Willamette Week are both there with pads out, but unlike me, they’re not waiting in line or partaking in the consumer experience.
I chat with the dispensary’s lawyer and another guy who’s been there before as a cardholder; I get a sense that they believe Farma is on the cutting edge of dispensaries and is well positioned to be a trendsetter for the new recreational market.
10 am—Once 10 o’clock arrives, there’s another line inside the foyer as we all are asked to fill out waivers. Our driver’s licenses are scanned into Farma’s internal database—the guy in the window tells me it’s primarily to make sure the same person doesn’t come back later in the day to buy more weed that they’re supposed to—and while it’s a little disconcerting to know that my DMV photo is on file somewhere, he assures me it’s for internal use only.
10:14 am—The showroom itself it impressive. All the strains are displayed in glass lidded counters, with vital statistics plainly displayed, including THC and CBD content. There’s a weird code of colors and dots to determine whether something is sativa- or indica-dominant but by and large it’s about as easy a process as I can imagine. I’m allowed to smell samples of anything I’m interested in, and the budtenders are patient and informative. This is a really nice, high-end experience.
I end up with a gram of something called Bubblegum, which I select by its fragrance, and another gram of a CBD strain that I’m curious about (I’ve heard about CBD’s potential hangover-curing properties). There’s a 10 percent discount for new customers, and I’m out the door less than 20 dollars lighter. I like this spot a lot and expect I’ll come back. NED LANNAMANN
- We see you, Nigel Jaquiss!
9:11 AM—Yes, there were folks waiting outside the doors of Collective Awakenings (2823 NE Sandy) to be the first to purchase recreational cannabis this morning, but just a few. Most of us trickled in shortly after they opened at 9 am, and some of us (not me) were still in pajamas.
I’ve been by the place a million times, since it’s conveniently located about halfway between my home and office, but I chose to make it my first truly legal point of pot purchase because I saw a picture of its wooded interior design on its ad in our new cannabis guide and dug it.
I have been to three different dispensaries in Washington (two in Vancouver, one in Spokane), and they have been fine. Clean but plain, and not at all what you’d consider to be particularly stylish. In contrast, Awakenings is lovely—the long benches on either side of the wall in their lobby even have carved out butt indentations for added comfort.
After checking in with the receptionist, who faithfully checked the IDs of the six or so of us—all of whom appeared to be making recreational purchases, rather than medical—we were left to chat amongst ourselves (or more commonly, peruse the stacks of cannabis publications on hand) while waiting to be called into the inner sanctum. Don’t want to talk to humans? Behold Gary, the waiting-room pot lizard:
One of the guys waiting with me was a grower, and so more interested in making a bit of history than in desperation to get his mitts on some green. Similarly, a super-friendly guy named Jeff was there in his lounge pants mainly to support this particular dispensary, since he has “a buddy” involved.
They have 12 strains available for recreational purchase, starting at $12 per gram. The budtender—a young, upbeat woman who assured me they were “ready” for what would be “a fun day”—presented me with four different sativa-dominant strains as I’d asked for, noting the primary difference being taste. They ranged from $12-18 per gram. The only one I’d ever heard of was the famously woman-for-women Jilly Bean, so I went for a $14 gram of that. Everyone in the building was super friendly and in a pretty good mood. No doubt: This is probably going to be a really, really good day for sales.
Awakenings has an ATM in the lobby like every other dispensary I’ve seen but—surprise!—they actually take credit cards with a minimum purchase of $20. The potential for me to earn extra Alaska Airline miles combined with Gary and the pleasing décor makes Collective Awakenings a very likely contender for becoming my go-to spot.
But the morning is young. MARJORIE SKINNER
- Shelby R King
- Adelaide Turner and Marie Nashif at The Grass Shack.
Want doughnuts? Want free coffee? Then I suggest you visit Adelaide Turner and Marie Nashif at The Grass Shack, 6802 NE Broadway.
The sisters opened their medical dispensary in July, and they’re still getting settled into their shop (read: It’s a bit sparse), but they’re warm and friendly shopkeepers and the vibe inside will probably appeal to the slightly older set of stoners.
“We have people come in and tell us we’re not what they’re expecting,” Turner says. “They’re expecting men, maybe with beards. We just want to be the neighborhood shop.”
The ladies say they’re not interested in competing with the weed shops that opened at midnight last night. If you’re looking for a shop that likely won’t get too crazy today, this might be your place. Turner and Nashif say they want to be respectful of their neighbors, so they’re keeping opening day low key. Oh, and speaking of neighbors, they’ve got some good ones for those of you with the munchies: If you want some munchies after you shop, Pacific Market is right next door, and there’s an Asian bakery and a Thai restaurant right across the street. Thirsty? Hit up the bar that’s attached to the shop.
The inside of the shop itself is an unassuming place with a slight Hawaiian vibe. Turner and Nashif had Hawaiian reggae playing when I was in there at 9 am, and said the music will usually be Hawaiian, but not only reggae.
They currently have 14 strains available, with more on the way and a couple others in the back waiting to be processed and put on the shelves. (Check out the photo for strain names and prices.)
They don’t plan on having any extra security for day one of recreational weed sales, but say “we have someone we could call” if things get hairy, so don’t try anything funny, guys. They didn’t check my ID, but I am clearly over 21 and I didn’t buy anything. It’s posted on the front door that anyone wanting to purchase weed will be carded. SHELBY R. KING