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The latest on next week’s pot store openings

The first week of legal marijuana sales is almost upon us – and Vancouver’s two stores have some details about when they’re opening and what they’ll have in stock.

(Ramsey Hamide setting up shop)
(Ramsey Hamide setting up shop)

Main Street Marijuana, at 2314 Main St. in uptown, expects to be the city’s first store to open its doors.

The shop is aiming for 11 a.m. on Wednesday, July 9, said Ramsey Hamide, a manager.

“We’ve secured product, but we kind of want to wait an extra day to get things sorted out,” Hamide said after the company decided to push the date back from Tuesday. “Mayor Tim Leavitt will cut our ribbon at 11 a.m. on July 9, and after that we’ll let whoever is around in.”

The store pushed the date back because the timing on licensing from the state and shipments are still somewhat vague. Licenses will be issued on the morning of July 7, the state has said. Stores can open 24 hours after that, if everything falls rapidly in place.

But since this is a new system, it seems wise to expect a few glitches and wait an extra day.

Main Street Marijuana has secured purchase of two 5-pound shipments for opening week from Farmer J’s LLC, a grower near Spokane. They’ll also get between 1,000 and 1,500 pre-rolled joints a bit later in the week, Hamide said.

The first will be 2.5 pounds each of two strains, Sour Kush and J’s Famous Kush. The second is expected on July 12 and will be a 5-pound shipment of Blue Dream, said Jared Herling, owner of Farmer J’s.

“Sour Kush is probably one of the most well known strains out there,” Herling said. “It’s super high THC, extremely relaxing, will probably give you couch lock and the munchies.”

The other opening day strain is an in-house one that Herling created a few years ago, he said.

“J’s Famous Kush is a cousin of the Sour Kush,” Herling said. “It’s a stretch indica, probably with a touch of OG Kush. It will mellow you out. It’s good for anxiety.”

J’s Famous Kush tested at 17.5 percent THC and Sour Kush tested at 20.6 percent THC, he added.

The farm has been working almost constantly to get ready over the past several months and has only barely begun harvesting its first products, Herling said.

With shortages across the state, customers can expect opening day prices to be on the expensive side, Hamide said.

“I hate to even say it because we really want to get the prices down as low as possible,” Hamide said. “But to start, we’re expecting maybe $90 to $100 for a 4-gram bag and $45 to $50 for a 2 gram bag.”

As supplies improve, prices will hopefully drop closer to street costs, he said.

New Vansterdam, at 6515 E. Mill Plain Blvd., is going to wait a little longer for the issues to resolve.

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That store plans to open at 8 a.m. and remain open until 11 p.m. on Friday, July 11, said Brian Budz, one of the owners.

“We are going to open when we can provide the level of service that we want to provide,” Budz said.

Still, he expects shortages could close stores around the state periodically through July and into August.

Brian Stroh, owner of CannaMan Farms, the only licensed grower in Clark County, said he plans to have some stock available for New Vansterdam’s opening, but much like Farmer J’s his operation has barely begun harvesting.

“These guys are going to have some of the only stuff I’ll be selling,” Stroh said of New Vansterdam.

Stroh said New Vansterdam will have some of his Cinex, Godzilla and New Kush strains.

He’s updated his website at www.cannamanfarms.com with information on all the strains they’re working with right now, as well.

Here are the opening day strain descriptions:

Cinex: “That wonderful perfumed aroma and ridiculously sticky bud make Cinex one of our favorites. A great daytime strain with wonderful energetic highs that run on and on and on.”

Godzilla: “This strong monster is a White Widow G-13 hybrid which can produce one and done smoke sessions. These beautiful deep green dense beasts have a rich hash like flavor with a strong body high.”

New Kush: “If you are a Kush fan look no further. Dense buds with a heavy aroma make this a potent indica with a surprising alert high.”

Stroh doesn’t have the lab results back yet, but he’ll post them on the site when he gets them.

He also said he’ll try to get some stock to Main Street Marijuana for its opening if owners want it.

“I’ll get something over to those guys if they’re opening on Wednesday,” Stroh said. “I’ll probably only have a couple ounces at that point, but I’d like to help them out if I can.”