Longmont has been a desirable area for recreational dispensary owners since adult-use sales began in 2014, but no open pot shops existed there until yesterday. The Longmont City Council reversed its policy in September 2017, allowing four license opportunities for retail dispensaries.
Although several dispensaries have been open in unincorporated Boulder County, just outside of town, for several years, Terrapin's new digs at 650 20th Avenue is the first for the city.
“We’re obviously excited to be the first cannabis company to be opening in Longmont City proper. It says a lot about the Terrapin staff and structure that we have,” says Terrapin communications director Peter Marcus.
The Boulder-based cannabis company, founded in 2009, now operates out of six locations in Colorado, with a medical marijuana store in Pennsylvania, as well. Over a dozen dispensaries applied for the four spots in Longmont; the other three stores will be occupied by the Green Solution, Medicine Man and Yuma Way — all of which have operations in Denver, too.
Terrapin Care Station owner Chris Woods cuts the ribbon at his new store.
Courtesy of Terrapin Care Station
“Whenever we go into new communities, we like to also plant local roots, and we're doing that by engaging these five nonprofits that we’re going to be working with.” he explains. “Whether it’s restorative justice or the arts, we see a social parallel [with cannabis].”
Marcus says the new store has created twelve new job opportunities, adding that tax revenue from Terrapin and its three future competitors will be used for affordable-housing projects within Longmont, which is close to the company's Boulder roots.
“Longmont has always been a community that we’ve wanted to move to because it’s a neighbor to Boulder,” Marcus says. “I think Longmont is a shifting community, much like Colorado as a whole. Look no further then the last election... . We’re over six years in the recreational cannabis experiment in Colorado, and you have new communities coming online into a new legal marijuana program because it's working and it’s successful."
The new dispensary serves recreational customers only, and is open every day from 8 a.m. to 9:45 p.m.
