Westword
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One of Colorado’s cannabis giants has agreed to sell the vast majority of its assets.
Native Roots will sell its retail-facing operations to cannabis equity firm Verdant Capital Partners, pending regulatory approval, according to an announcement from the two companies. The acquisition allows Native Roots to continue operations, notes CEO Jonathan Boord.
“We believe this transaction represents a constructive outcome for the company and its retail employees and provides a clear path forward for the business,” Boord says in a statement accompanying the announcement.
Founded in Denver seventeen years ago as a medical marijuana dispensary, Native Roots expanded quickly in the wake of recreational legalization and the start of stales in 2014. For most of its time, the company has been one of Colorado’s largest dispensary chains, with 21 locations across the state listed on its website — tying with LivWell Enlightened Health as the largest dispensary chain in Colorado — and eleven stores in the Denver metro.
Two Native Roots dispensaries in Colorado Springs, known as the “Gas & Grass” locations, are the state’s only cannabis dispensaries that also operate as full-service gas stations. The company also operates a cannabis delivery service in Aurora and Denver.
The financial terms of Verdant’s purchase were not included in the announcement, which notably covered seventeen dispensaries, not 21. According to Verdant partner and chief strategy officer Myles Peck, four undisclosed Native Roots locations “are still under evaluation as part of the transition and ongoing diligence process.”
Native Roots also owns medical and recreational cultivations and manufacturing facilities in Colorado, but those were not purchased by Verdant and “will continue to be operated by the existing company,” Peck says. According to the state Marijuana Enforcement Division, that company is NR Parent Co LLC, which is owned by a handful of entities, including Verdant co-founder Josh Ginsberg. Ginsberg has remained a co-owner of Native Roots as the two parties negotiated terms, state licensing records show.
“As a founder of Native Roots, I am extremely proud of the growth the company has achieved over the last seventeen years. This transaction will enable Native Roots to achieve even greater success,” Ginsberg says in a statement.
Long-term success isn’t so easy in retail cannabis, a fickle field in Colorado now that the mid-2010s have passed. According to data from the state Department of Revenue, annual dispensary sales have dropped about 41 percent from 2022 to 2025, from $2.2 billion to just over $1.2 billion, and wholesale flower prices dropped to a record low last December.
Verdant isn’t coming into this blind, however. The company’s executive leadership is made up of cannabis industry veterans, including Ginsberg and fellow co-founder Julian Michalowski, who has worked extensively in California’s cannabis sector.
“Colorado is one of the most mature cannabis markets in the country, and Native Roots has been an important operator in the state for many years. Our goal is to build a best-in-class retail platform focused on strengthening store-level performance and improving the customer experience. We’re optimistic about the long-term future of the Colorado market and believe disciplined operators who focus on fundamentals can continue to perform well as the industry evolves,” says Peck, a former CFO for a California cannabis chain. “We also believe the market will continue to consolidate over time, creating opportunities for experienced operators to build stronger retail platforms.”
When asked about the prospect of layoffs after the takeover is official, Peck responds: “Our focus is on acquiring the retail assets and retaining the team needed to operate the portfolio we are acquiring. In the near term, the priority is stabilizing operations and improving performance across the retail platform. Any staffing decisions are being handled by the existing company as part of its go-forward plan for the remaining business.”
According to several now-former Native Roots employees, some staffing cuts have already been made at the corporate level.
Native Roots’s current ownership is split among a handful of people, some of whom, including Ginsberg, have sued each other before Verdant agreed to the buyout. It is unclear if those lawsuits have been settled or if settlements were part of the acquisition.
“We can’t comment on prior legal matters involving former owners of the company,” says Peck. “Our focus has been on completing the transaction and working with the team to transition the business going forward.”
