Longtime Broadway Dispensary Searching for a Buyer

Herban Underground has been growing and selling cannabis at 70 Broadway for over a decade, but the dispensary's days could be numbered as ownership struggles with a changing city and an industry in decline.

Anne Gordon and her family bought Herban Underground in 2015, just over a year after recreational sales started in Colorado, and changed little about the place, including the popular indoor window that allows customers to peer into an attached cultivation. As Colorado weed prices and dispensary sales continue falling, however, those plants are getting fewer eyes on them. After keeping Herban Underground above water for eight and a half years, Gordon says she is currently trying to sell the place.

The dispensary and grow will continue operating as Gordon looks for a new owner, she says, and that's a good thing for CBD strain lovers. We caught up with her to learn more about her favorite strains and the trials an d tribulations of running a dispensary on Broadway.

Westword: Why is it important for Herban Underground to grow its own cannabis?

Anne Gordon: We have some really great genetics, especially with CBD. It's really hard to find CBD flower in Denver. We have a Cherry AC/DC, which is running at about 17 percent CBD and 0.67 percent THC, and we have Cherry Stardawg, which is about 8 percent CBD to 8 percent THC.

We have a GG #4 that everyone loves. We also have a really good Cindy Limone, which is my favorite. We had an awesome Fire OG, but the genetics kind of gave up on us. We also have Night Nurse and then Valley Girl, which is about to come out again soon.

You don't see much internally grown cannabis anymore. Herban takes that a step further, with large glass windows allowing customers to peek into the grow. What's the open-kitchen concept been like?

It's awesome. People can't get over it when they come in for the first time, and we also have some regulars who check in on the progress. They want to see how the girls are coming along. We've had a few people come in from illegal states who are just in shock and have started crying after seeing the plants. It hasn't happened in a while, though.

How much has the Colorado cannabis industry changed since you joined?

It's definitely disillusioning. To me, the first thing that really hurt us was allowing outside money to come in [to Colorado cannabis]. Once they did that, the value of the little guys was really hurt. We just couldn't compete with the prices of the big guys. Let's say I'm charging $55 for a vaporizer out the door — I had a customer tell me they were getting the same thing for $41 at a bigger dispensary. I was eventually told that it's a loss leader, but I can't afford a loss leader. I can't rationalize selling things with no profits whatsoever. So that hurts us, and then having New Mexico and Nevada legalize hurt us, too. Colorado was the leader until we weren't anymore. The regulations just beat us up every time.

Did you anticipate the weed bubble bursting?

Unfortunately, I didn't. But once New Mexico legalized, our sales went down about 30 percent. It happened so fast. Most people don't get it. We had a pretty okay year during COVID, but after that was the tough part. That's when we sort of started wondering, "Well, what do we do now?" I'm sure the southern border towns are feeling it even worse.

Why not try to open a more retail-focused dispensary without a grow attached?

We're running out of money, and you need money to move. We talked to a few people about partnerships, but most of us are just burned out. We could just continue to throw away more money, and there's no guarantee it would work. When we bought this, we were at about 60 to 65 percent tourist customers. We have great reviews for the most part, but it all comes down to cash flow. It's hard to keep throwing money in.

There's been a lot of changes on your block of Broadway over the past few years, including construction for new bike lanes and reports of increased homeless activity. How has that impacted your business?

It's been brutal. The homeless crisis has gotten worse and worse, especially because we're open late and they get into the building. People have tried to get in to get warm, and they often try doing drugs in there. Our staff was getting scared in the evening, and it was a brutal couple of years. We're worried it's keeping customers from coming to the building.

I feel like I'm complaining a lot, but it's been hard. The construction has been going for a year and a half, and it's creating a lot of havoc, too. The neighborhood has shifted a lot. It felt more like a neighborhood eight or nine years ago. Now everyone is sort of jaded. We tried to get a $15,000 grant for our business losses during the Broadway construction, but we were told we couldn't qualify because it was a federal grant and we're a dispensary. I get that, but why can't the city step up and offer something?

What's in store for Herban Underground in the future?

Our lease is until October of 2025. We've been offered an out on the lease, but we're open to carrying it on for someone. We've had a few people interested. The perfect-case scenario would be an established brand with products looking for a place to operate.