Lucid Recreational plans August opening

By PAUL DELANEY

Staff Reporter

For some, the July 1 deadline in the state of Washington that required merging medical marijuana into the recreational side is causing its share of problems.

But for business owners Dennis Turner and Michael Schofield, it means opportunity.

Cheney's only medical marijuana business, the former 3 Green Thumbs, will soon be rebranded, opening as Lucid Recreational at its new location in the Farmers and Merchants Center at the corner of First Avenue and Cheney-Spokane Road. They move several doors west with double the space as before and will begin servicing both medical and retail customers sometime in mid-August, Turner said.

Medical marijuana is being combined with the regulated recreational pot industry that state voters created by approving Initiative 502 in 2012.

As Cheney's only retail marijuana business, Turner has a grand vision in mind for the business he and Schofield opened in 2015.

"We plan on having the premiere store in Eastern Washington, period," Turner said. "I envision being in the top-3 in Eastern Washington in terms of sales, period."

The expanded space means a larger workforce, too, Turner said. The company plans to hire 15 people to work, five full and 9-10 part-time. That's a big increase considering 3 Green Thumbs employed just one person, outside of the owners.

"It was pretty much owner-operated," Turner said.

Among the changes that occurred at the beginning of the month, medical marijuana providers found themselves with some new rules such as being charged the 37 percent state excise tax and having patients entered into a state database.

"Pretty much all the medicals had to shut down June 30," Turner said. "That was the last day for 3 Green Thumbs."

"It got finicky to get a new license," Schofield added.

The best move was to change the focus to include both medical and retail, merging with a Seattle business, Lucid. The chain will now have three locations including Seattle and a north Spokane store that was scheduled to open earlier this week.

A lot of the current stores are what Turner calls "pop-up shops." He means no disrespect, but Turner wants to separate their business from others. "We're trying to create something that's known and respected," he said.

For the Cheney location, there is a lot of paperwork and a significant remodeling project underway before a planned mid-August opening.

Turner spoke of Trent Avenue in the Spokane Valley, a place he refers to "marijuana row," with a chuckle. But they appear to be laughing all the way to the bank with estimated yearly revenue in the high six figures each, Turner said.

"It's a billion dollar industry," Turner said. With all taxes added in, the markup is 44 percent. And that has significant potential for use in local communities.

Admittedly, with the passage of the initiative to legalize recreational marijuana, there was a lot of concern with many communities, Cheney included. But the business has worked to be a good neighbor and community partner.

Schofield looks forward to opening a wider segment of the Cheney community to their business.

"One thing we've been really looking forward to is working with the city," Schofield said. "They've been in contact with us trying to figure out what the other side looks like and how it affects the community."

While retail sales will drive the majority of the business activities, the new company is not abandoning its roots.

"One thing that is nice is we do have a medical component we get to carry forward," Schofield said. "It was the heart and soul of what we had. We still get to cater to the original patients of 3 Green Thumbs."

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].