Nectar stocks its stores heavily with its own line of cannabis - Applegate Valley Organics - grown primarily outdoors in Southern Oregon’s rich marijuana farmland. He projected the slow licensing process had cost Portland marijuana businesses more than $22 million in lost revenues each month.īudtender Jesse Lee opens a jar for a customer to inspect the product
“It seems ironic that, given the number of cannabis businesses in Portland and the Office of Neighborhood Involvement’s stated goal of partnering with businesses to promote economic activity, the lack of licenses would indicate that Portland is one of the state’s least cannabis-friendly cities,” Whitney said in a press release.
#NECTAR DISPENSARY LICENSE#
Meanwhile, Portland businesses have faced an extreme bottleneck with the city’s dual licensing requirement (cannabis businesses must receive a license from both the city of Portland and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission).Īccording to economist Beau Whitney of Whitney Economics, only 19 recreational licenses have been issued out of 355 applications. In December, the Oregon Health Authority released updated rules that essentially allow larger batches to be tested, with the intention of freeing some of the blockage.
Many have pointed to a lack of certified testing labs and the strict quality assurance regulations that have choked off the industry. – October was the lowest month for marijuana sales since May 2016. – From September to November, same-store sales declined an average of 21%. – Total dispensary sales declined 8.5% from September to October (down to $29.5 million) 1, state regulations halted the early start program that allowed licensed medical dispensaries to sell to all adults. 1, 2016.Īccording to analysis of retail sales by BDS Analytics, edibles suffered the greatest impact with a 32% sales decline from September to October.Īcross-the-board drop-offs have challenged hundreds of businesses as they attempt to transition from medical to recreational. Testing regulations, licensing woes stall industry growthĪfter months of outpacing tax revenue projections from the state, Oregon’s cannabis industry hit a snag with the implementation of new packaging and testing regulations that took effect on Oct. The chic space boasted a clean, open feel and showcased well-lit product displays. With that goal in mind, the company opened its first dispensary in Portland’s upscale Pearl District. We wanted to take medical marijuana out of the back room and into the light. So, we spent a lot of money to make everything nice, upfront and clean. “Most dispensaries back then were dirty and dark - you felt like you were part of an illegal drug deal,” Karlebach says. After all, if the industry wants to be respectable, it needs to look the part, says Devra Karlebach, the company’s chief operating officer. That image is exactly the vibe that Nectar, an Oregon-based marijuana retail chain, wanted to avoid when it opened its doors in 2014. more approachable and less of a sketchy back door affair,” Bohannon said.Seven cultivation locations operating under the Applegate Valley Organics brand supply a large percentage of the flower in Nectar’s retail stores.Įarly medical marijuana dispensaries established a well-known stereotype of seedy, hole-in-the-wall retail shops designed to fly under the radar of law enforcement. The products on Nectar’s shelves are wrapped in branded jars, boxing, and other packaging types but guests still get the sensual experience through “tasting trays” and with the help of the staff. Customers smell the buds directly before they’re weighed out right in front of them.
Oregon’s open container rules mean some stores don’t rely on branded packaging at all. States like California and Washington rely heavily on brand loyalty to sell products because you can’t have any open containers in-store. The pharmacy model combines the best aspects of a closed container cannabis system and Oregon’s more loosey-goosey open container policies. Nectar operates its dispensaries in the “pharmacy model,” according to Amy Bohannan, Nectar’s Marketing Specialist. Nectar Cannabis is Oregon’s largest retail chain with 18 locations and they’re showing what’s possible in the versatility of Oregon’s market while keeping the warm customer service experience consistent. Anything from state laws to individual business practices drastically alters the retail setting in ways where two shops in the same city can provide unrecognizable customer service experiences. Each state’s cannabis law book forces producers and retailers to move cannabis in different ways. Along with California, the west coast’s legal market is bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Washington and Oregon both sell cannabis legally with astounding success.
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