The pot business is booming in Colorado, and the owners of one of the state’s largest marijuana dispensaries have big plans: to become the "Costco of weed."
According to the Denver Post's Cannabist, members of the Williams family, who own the Medicine Man in northeast Denver, are embarking on a $2.6 million expansion including a retail space "all in white like an Apple store."
Their current headquarters — located in Denver's Montbello neighborhood, now dubbed "Potbello" — includes bulletproof glass, armed security guards, 65 video cameras and a $35,000 charcoal air filtration system that is supposed to eliminate the pot smell coming from the building.
“We really are trying to industrialize a hippie process,” Pete Williams told the paper.
The Medicine Man opened in 2010 and quickly became one the state's largest dispensaries of medical marijuana. According to the Cannabist, the company was the first to apply for a license to distribute recreational marijuana. On Jan. 1 — the first day retail pot sales opened — the store sold 15 pounds of marijuana, taking in close to $100,000. More than 600 customers came through Medicine Man's doors.
“This was one of these great opportunities, like a gold rush,” Williams continued. “We were just kind of pioneers, willing to take that risk.”
Williams said the company recently raised $1.4 million in loans from a marijuana-focused investor group.
