The marijuana industry is seeing a surge in sales, despite Gov. Whitmer’s Stay-at-Home order.
Pat Banta, store manager of Lume Cannabis Co. in Big Rapids, says, “It’s been a pleasant surprise. We’re happy to see that business has increased, and we’re happy to be here for the community.”
Lume Cannabis Co. in Big Rapids just opened last month. Since then, the store has bloomed in sales.
“I don’t think we at all anticipated that we would see an increase or see the significant increase that we have since the stay at home, stay orders issued,” says Banta.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made stores like Lume adapt more quickly to curbside pickup, online orders and even home delivery.
“Curbside gives us the ability to service customers the way that we try to when we’re open for normal operation,” says Banta. “It still gives us a chance, while we keep our distance, to paint an awesome experience for those customers that want to come see us.”
Moving into the northern Michigan market next week, Freddie’s is starting a home delivery service in Mt. Pleasant and Big Rapids.
“To be able to tackle that right now is a perfect time,” says General Manager of Freddie’s Brett Stephens. “Now that we’ve launched it throughout this time, we’re able to focus on it and deliver this for the foreseeable future.”
In a recent study by the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency, the marijuana industry is expected to have a nearly $8 billion economic impact.
Stephens says, “The growth of that during a time, an economic time, like we’re facing now just proves what we’re able to put back into our state from a revenue stream.”
Even in a pandemic, Brett and Pat say they’ll continue to address the needs of their customers and patients.
Banta says, “It’s only going to go up from here.”
