Over a Decade After Legalization, Recreational Marijuana Sales Begin in Golden

More than a decade after retail marijuana was legalized in Colorado, Golden's first recreational dispensary is finally open.

Verts Neighborhood Dispensary, formerly known as Golden Alternative Medicine, at 511 Orchard Street, is now selling recreational marijuana after operating as the town's only medical marijuana dispensary since 2014.

Although voters made recreational marijuana legal by approving Amendment 64 in November 2012, local governments must still okay allowing commercial sales before dispensaries can open. Golden City Council put a moratorium on all new dispensaries, medical and recreational, in 2014, but allowed Golden Alternative Medicine to remain.

Golden Alternative Medicine was acquired in 2020 by Ashley Close, who didn't think a medical-only market supplied enough customers to keep the store open. So she and her business partner, Daniel Rowland, pushed the City Council to put a recreational sales measure on Golden's ballot in the 2021 November election; the town's voters narrowly approved the proposal.

With recreational sales now approved, Golden Alternative Medicine was one of four businesses to receive a dispensary license in Golden, along with Igadi, a Colorado dispensary chain with nine locations, Outcrop Dispensary, LLC, and Nebrina Golden, LLC. But since Close already had an operating dispensary, she was able to offer recreational sales months before the others could open stores.

"This feels like a little bit of a conclusion of the journey we've been on for three years. It's really gratifying. We love Golden. It's a very cool community, and we're just excited to be there," Close says.

In anticipation of recreational sales, Close agreed to a licensing deal with Verts Neighborhood Dispensary, a Fort Collins dispensary where she serves as CEO; the store's rebranding should be completed by week's end.

"I am super excited. Of course, I'm nervous, too. There are always a few unknowns in this business," Close explains as she readies her new store for a grand opening on Wednesday, April 5. But Verts actually opened for recreational sales on Monday, March 27, as part of a "soft opening," she adds.

Close is used to the recreational pot "island" of Fort Collins, with few neighboring towns around that city offering retail marijuana sales. She anticipates a "learning curve" in Golden, she says, since the metro Denver market has 300-plus dispensaries.

"We really have to focus on customer service, and that's one of the main factors that brings people back, just like having a good selection and fair prices. We're pretty easily accessible, too, right at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and I-70," she notes.

After three years of persuading local politicians, voters and licensing officials to open up the recreational market, Close is now focused on satisfying that market at Verts — but the former Golden Alternative Medicine won't be turning its back on the medical patients who kept it open for nearly a decade.

"Medical marijuana is, unfortunately, an industry that has been on a downturn for a few years now," she explains. "We're going to be keeping the medical license, though. We don't want to be one of those stores that goes rec, and then just drops off the medical side. We still see it as a service and benefit to provide."