Citing oversaturation in areas, new Vermont retail cannabis licenses paused
They said Burlington is “ground zero” for an oversaturated area and pointed out there are already 13 licenses with a 14th in the licensing.
After a recent decision by Vermont’s Cannabis Control Board, there’s a pause on granting new retail licenses and applications for dispensaries because of alleged oversaturation in the market. Officials said Burlington is “ground zero” for an oversaturated area and pointed out there are already 13 licenses with a 14th in the pipeline.The board also said there’s issues in other parts of the state like Rutland, Montpelier and Morrisville. This all comes right around the two year mark of the recreational cannabis launch. “This is a purely intrastate market; you can’t just plop another retail store down in an already saturated market and expect there to be an increase in demand. Really, it’s just going to be kind of compete with each other and bring everyone down,” said James Pepper, the chair of the Cannabis Control Board. During the pause, the board will look at new ideas on how to incentivize retailers to go to less populous dispensary locations. One of those ideas is creating rules to allow for sales in general stores, something Pepper thinks could help in more rural areas. This example is specifically about Newbury, but could also work in other places. “I would like us to consider ways where you could maybe have retail for cannabis in that general store if they wanted to do. I don’t have to talk about the Newbury General Store specifically, but you could see how there would be kind of behind-the-counter sales, maybe just pre-rolls, flower and a limited line of products,” Pepper said. One store that’s fallen victim to oversaturation is Grass Queen, next to Wallflower and Folino’s in Burlington, which will close in late October. “All license categories are saturated, not just retailers. Everyone is doing the best we can, but we pulled something of a ‘Californian’ here,” said Jahala Dudley of Grass Queen. Gov. Phil Scott said on Wednesday that like many things in life, when something is new and fresh it’s all the rage, but that he is not surprised about the pause happening. “This is not as lucrative as people think. It’s still a lot of work; any business is challenging, and I don’t think this is any exception, so you need customers,” he said.Eventually, the pause will be lifted after the board decides on where to go from here; it’s not permanent.
After a recent decision by Vermont’s Cannabis Control Board, there’s a pause on granting new retail licenses and applications for dispensaries because of alleged oversaturation in the market.
Officials said Burlington is “ground zero” for an oversaturated area and pointed out there are already 13 licenses with a 14th in the pipeline.
The board also said there’s issues in other parts of the state like Rutland, Montpelier and Morrisville. This all comes right around the two year mark of the recreational cannabis launch.
“This is a purely intrastate market; you can’t just plop another retail store down in an already saturated market and expect there to be an increase in demand. Really, it’s just going to be kind of compete with each other and bring everyone down,” said James Pepper, the chair of the Cannabis Control Board.
During the pause, the board will look at new ideas on how to incentivize retailers to go to less populous dispensary locations. One of those ideas is creating rules to allow for sales in general stores, something Pepper thinks could help in more rural areas. This example is specifically about Newbury, but could also work in other places.
“I would like us to consider ways where you could maybe have retail for cannabis in that general store if they wanted to do. I don’t have to talk about the Newbury General Store specifically, but you could see how there would be kind of behind-the-counter sales, maybe just pre-rolls, flower and a limited line of products,” Pepper said.
One store that’s fallen victim to oversaturation is Grass Queen, next to Wallflower and Folino’s in Burlington, which will close in late October.
“All license categories are saturated, not just retailers. Everyone is doing the best we can, but we pulled something of a ‘Californian’ here,” said Jahala Dudley of Grass Queen.
Gov. Phil Scott said on Wednesday that like many things in life, when something is new and fresh it’s all the rage, but that he is not surprised about the pause happening.
“This is not as lucrative as people think. It’s still a lot of work; any business is challenging, and I don’t think this is any exception, so you need customers,” he said.
Eventually, the pause will be lifted after the board decides on where to go from here; it’s not permanent.