The Green Solution Opens Dispensary in Aspen

The Green Solution, one of Colorado's largest dispensary chains, has headed for the hills, and is opening a new store in Aspen.

"We've been excited to get into the Aspen market for a while now," explains TGS creative director Jordan Bryant. "Our customers have said they wanted us to open in Aspen. Consistency is one of our big things, and we wanted to make sure we were able to provide that consistency up there first."

The new dispensary will celebrate with a grand-opening party on Saturday, December 7, at which the first hundred TGS visitors can buy a slim cone pre-roll for $1 and receive a sponsored swag bag of select merchandise; there will also be a raffle for a free Ikon Base Pass, and donations made to the Aspen Volunteer Fire Department.

According to Bryant, the store will stay open in Aspen's "mud" season, when the snow melts and the tourism industry shrinks. That being said, opening in December gives the Green Solution a handful of months to establish itself in the community.

"We heard there was a difference between the tourist season and the mud season, but we didn't know it was that big. A lot of businesses actually shut down, and then they reopen in October and November," Bryant says. "We've been pretty surprised with Aspen, with how the community is so tightly knit. They're really supportive of each other, which is different from towns in the metro area."

The Aspen store, as well as recently opened locations in Black Hawk and Glenwood Springs, makes for twenty TGS dispensaries in Colorado, with another on the way in Longmont by early 2020, according to Bryant. All of the new stores are recreational dispensaries.

Agreeing to an acquisition offer last month with publicly traded pot corporation Columbia Care Inc. hasn't stopped TGS from continuing its expansion across Colorado. The deal, announced in November for $140 million ($15 million in cash, $15 million in senior loans and $110 in Columbia Care stock), will merge the two brands under Columbia Care's ownership, with the TGS brand planning for a possible expansion outside the state.

"The deal is still in the works. Nothing as of now is going to change with TGS," Bryant says. "We were acquired because we are who we are, and there is some good synergy between the two brands."