Reporter

One of the places had like Girl Scouts selling cookies in the parking lot. There were food trucks. I mean, it really was like a huge, exciting moment for the city and the county.

There's like a doorbell that goes off when you walk in. Daniel Swick was the manager there and he, you know, welcomed us in.

There's like a doorbell that goes off when you walk in. Daniel Swick was the manager there and he, you know, welcomed us in.

There's like a doorbell that goes off when you walk in. Daniel Swick was the manager there and he, you know, welcomed us in.

And then you sort of are let into this beautiful back room.

And then you sort of are let into this beautiful back room.

And then you sort of are let into this beautiful back room.

You've got lit glass shelves and a display board with sort of, you know, different levels of cannabis that you can buy.

You've got lit glass shelves and a display board with sort of, you know, different levels of cannabis that you can buy.

You've got lit glass shelves and a display board with sort of, you know, different levels of cannabis that you can buy.

Okay. Bottom shelf. Uh-huh. A1 steak sauce.

Okay. Bottom shelf. Uh-huh. A1 steak sauce.

Okay. Bottom shelf. Uh-huh. A1 steak sauce.

Things really started to kind of go downhill shortly after the pandemic around 2021. When you actually go and look up all the licensees, the marijuana licensees in that area, you can see that boom and bust. You know, there's a point at which you have just hundreds of businesses and then it starts to drop off dramatically. For one thing, competition was fierce.

Things really started to kind of go downhill shortly after the pandemic around 2021. When you actually go and look up all the licensees, the marijuana licensees in that area, you can see that boom and bust. You know, there's a point at which you have just hundreds of businesses and then it starts to drop off dramatically. For one thing, competition was fierce.

Things really started to kind of go downhill shortly after the pandemic around 2021. When you actually go and look up all the licensees, the marijuana licensees in that area, you can see that boom and bust. You know, there's a point at which you have just hundreds of businesses and then it starts to drop off dramatically. For one thing, competition was fierce.

The number of cannabis businesses that flooded into this city and the surrounding county were pretty outsized for the demand. You had a situation where it's a city that has like seven to ten Starbucks maybe. That's a pretty good indicator usually of, you know, how many of these businesses there should be. And they had, you know, more than 200 cannabis businesses at one point. Wow.

The number of cannabis businesses that flooded into this city and the surrounding county were pretty outsized for the demand. You had a situation where it's a city that has like seven to ten Starbucks maybe. That's a pretty good indicator usually of, you know, how many of these businesses there should be. And they had, you know, more than 200 cannabis businesses at one point. Wow.

The number of cannabis businesses that flooded into this city and the surrounding county were pretty outsized for the demand. You had a situation where it's a city that has like seven to ten Starbucks maybe. That's a pretty good indicator usually of, you know, how many of these businesses there should be. And they had, you know, more than 200 cannabis businesses at one point. Wow.

And so inevitably, you know, some of those folks didn't have enough demand and they were going to fail.