Another weed shop opened on Forest Ave. This is how they all survive.

Not long ago, it seemed like every time a new business opened in a previously vacant Portland building, it would be followed by the same groan: “Another restaurant?”

Now, replace “restaurant” with “weed shop.”

While I never questioned the need for additional dining options, the most geriatric of my geriatric millennial tendencies come through when talking about what we children of the late 1900s call “pot.”

I’ve found myself joined in a chorus with my Gen X and Boomer brethren, repeating the same refrain: How can they all survive?

But, rather than posting about it in Facebook’s echo chamber of the out-of-touch, I decided I’d try to find out. As yet another recreational store opened last week on Forest Avenue in Portland, I took a self-guided tour of the six shops along a mile and a half stretch of road that’s emerged as Maine’s equivalent of Denver’s Green Mile.

That’s actually two miles of the Colorado city’s South Broadway, where more than a dozen dispensaries have been said to make for the highest density of marijuana shops in the world. We can dispel that just by looking at the Portland peninsula, where even more shops are clustered closer together, but while those are tucked away on side streets or blend in with other storefronts, large roadside signs along a busy thoroughfare seem to make a more memorable impression.

At least they have to me on Forest Avenue, a road I travel frequently, continually amazed whenever another weed shop opens. What I hadn’t realized is that at least two have already closed: Elevation 207, in a tiny, space-age-themed building dominated by its show window, and Sweet Dirt, whose website says its three locations (this one in the former Morrill’s Corner Wok Inn) are under renovation, but it hasn’t renewed its license with the city and didn’t reply to an email seeking more information.

If that’s a sign of the Portland market finally hitting a saturation point, it didn’t deter Grass Roots Marijuana from opening a second Portland location in the former home of Photo Market, a property that owner Jim Hamilton, who lives nearby, has always had his eye on.

“I think like restaurants and bars, there are generally plenty of options and the good ones seem to have customers,” Hamilton said in an email.

While Grass Roots opened last week with little fanfare (but enough time to take advantage of the business on 4/20, the Christmas of cannabis), it had a steady stream of people popping in — customers from its other locations (including Portland’s first recreational marijuana shop, on St. John Street), as well as residents of the neighborhood and people who saw the open sign as they were driving by.

The evening commute makes for the busiest rush at Mystique of Maine, which opened up the street in a former train station in 2021. Employee Hazel Johnson said it helps having a sign you can see from the road advertising its $5.99 joints, as well as prices for eighths, edibles and ounces, which are lower than most.

Johnson believes where customers choose to shop comes down to three things: “budget, convenience and vibes.”

“Stoners are very vibe-y people,” chimed in Brianna Racicot from behind the counter.

Up in Woodfords Corner, Kind & Co.’s brick building has a pedestrian-scale sign out front but makes its presence known to drivers coming from downtown with a graffiti-style mural that covers a whole wall with words like “grow” and “community” in big, black and white block letters.

“We wanted to serve the local neighborhood and create a comfortable, welcoming space,” co-founder Ben Ferri said about the Portland store, which opened in 2023 and also sells houseplants. It’s also one of only two stores you can turn right into coming into town.

The other, across the intersection, is Pot + Pan, which from the outside looks more like an old-timey soda fountain, with its persimmon-and-cream-striped awning.

“We have people come in and say, ‘What is this place?’” said CEO Dunia Khudairi, adding that even Google lists it first as kitchen supply store.

The shop is meant to serve multiple purposes — somewhere people strolling around Woodfords Corner can peruse cake-making equipment and cookbooks, nearby residents can conveniently purchase a spatula or casserole dish, and others might travel out of their way for the gift-worthy edibles in cheerful packaging that matches the awning.

The “food-first” company focuses on the taste of its THC-infused products, including personal-sized bundt cakes and handcrafted bon bons, and also infuses them at lower doses than most, making them popular with people looking for a less intense, more culinary experience, including those who are newer to ingesting weed.

While Pot + Pan’s distinctions seem the most obvious, across the street from the University of Southern Maine, Vice Cannabis might have the most significant difference: It’s the only medical shop on Forest Avenue. That means customers must have a card showing they’re registered with the state, though people can get one right at the store, through a portal that allows them to meet virtually with a nurse practitioner who can certify conditions as commonplace as headaches or insomnia.

So, with weed legally available to everyone 21 and over, what’s the incentive to get a card for medical marijuana, which is less regulated and not tested for contaminants? Because taxes on it are lower, customers pay a lower price, said Vice owner Phoebe Stonbely.

At her shop, there’s another draw, and he answers to the name of Enzo. The almost 2-year-old Dobmerann excitedly greets customers, doling out kisses to whoever will let him. Those who have been coming to the store since it opened in 2023 have known him since he was a puppy.

Aside from the loving licks, some customers also like that the store is woman-owned and has mostly female employees, Stonbely said, as well as the “Miami Vice”-themed decor, with palm trees and an Apple Store-esque interior.

The location, in a former pizza restaurant, is convenient for students and people coming off the highway. It’s also closer to downtown than the other Forest Avenue shops, aside from Landrace Cannabis, just across Preble Street Extension between Sun Tiki Studios and dive bar Forest Gardens, where Stonbely sends recreational customers who walk in — and vice-versa.

Even though they’re all on the same street, Stonbely believes each Forest Avenue shop serves a different “micro area.”

And if they’re doing enough business now, they don’t have to worry about much more competition within the same stretch. New zoning adopted by the city late last year no longer allows marijuana retail stores along most of outer Forest Avenue, aside from pockets west of Walton Street (where Grass Roots’ new shop is), just outside of Morrill’s Corner and around Riverside Street.

So the recently closed Dunkin in Woodfords Corner that I assumed would become a pot shop? It might just be another restaurant.