On August 6th, Top Shelf Cannabis in Bellingham, WA made history as the first retailer in the state’s recreational marijuana market to sell edible and concentrated products to consumers. With several news networks in attendance and a long line of eager customers outside, Top Shelf was set to receive their first delivery of non-flower products at 10:00 pm, and had committed to staying open until midnight (the latest allowable hour to sell cannabis products in Washington’s legal market) to serve those who had come to participate in the historic event.
As 10:00 p.m. came and passed, and the products had still not been delivered, the news media in attendance were forced to pack up and leave in order to meet their broadcast deadline before the first transaction was made. Luckily, representatives from Ganjapreneur, a cannabis industry media start-up, were also there to document the occasion. The delivery finally arrived at about 10:40 p.m., giving the major networks just enough time to film the products being unloaded and sorted before hurrying out the door to meet their deadline. Ganjapreneur’s film crew stayed at Top Shelf the rest of the evening to document the experience, and uploaded the footage to their website and YouTube channel on Thursday.
The edible products that were sold on Wednesday were savory snacks, including infused trail mix and nut clusters made by Green Chief, a processor licensed by Washington State which will also be providing edibles to several other retail stores in the region. There was also a pre-loaded vaporizer system that sold for close to $100 per unit, manufactured by Rif, another state-licensed processor.
Last month, Top Shelf Cannabis also made history as the first retailer to sell cannabis flowers in the legal market on July 8th. Since then, the store has received several shipments of flowers that have quickly sold out. Within the next week, Top Shelf is expecting a shipment of 50 pounds of cannabis flowers that they hope will allow them to operate continuously until the next shipment without limiting the purchases of their customers.
Ganjapreneur is a website dedicated to keeping aspiring “ganjapreneurs” up to date on the latest business news and developments in the recreational cannabis, medical marijuana, and industrial hemp industries. The website publishes original articles as well as curated news from around the web, and also conducts in-depth interviews with established business owners.