California Music Store Granted Marijuana License

By New Frontier Analysts

In Berkeley, California Amoeba Music will be turning the jazz section of its flagship store into a marijuana dispensary. The record store received its permit for medical marijuana sales despite being rejected initially. Amoeba Music in San Francisco is home to a doctor’s office where patients can receive their physician’s recommendation for cannabis usage. The proposed dispensary will operate under the name Berkeley Compassionate Care Collective, and will occupy a portion of Amoeba’s existing store space. There will be a waiting period before the dispensary is open to ensure compliance with state regulations, but barring any problems, cannabis sales should begin in the next few months.

This is a critical development for the industry as it shows cannabis and other industries coming together to form symbiotic relationships. These sort of connections will help create brand images in the future, and help differentiate brick-and-mortar experiences. In addition, it is significant that a trend setting market like California is allowing dispensaries to open in more visible and notable locations.

Dispensaries becoming more open and widely acknowledged will help to remove stigmas and attitudes that hamper the growth of the industry and expansion of the customer base. Placing dispensaries alongside other reputable businesses could help to add legitimacy to the cannabis industry.

If placing dispensaries inside of or attached to other existing businesses becomes a trend in the industry, dispensary owners are going to have to move quickly to find partnerships with other small businesses. However, it is quite possible that some jurisdictions will outlaw this kind of practice as a way to limit exposure to cannabis.

Even if this is the case, dispensary owners may look for product offerings not directly related to cannabis, such as apparel or entertainment media such as music, to draw in customers who otherwise might not shop at the dispensary. Ultimately, this is another example of how dispensaries can expand their reach, as well as showing how existing businesses may try to piggyback on the cannabis industry for additional revenue.

New Frontier Analysts

Our data scientists drill deep with rigorous analytics to provide insight into key trends and market opportunities. We track the state of cannabis and its regulation in all major legal markets.