Green Thumb Industries signed a deal with Circle K, the global convenience-store chain, to sell licensed cannabis at its Florida gasoline retailers. The partnership will begin next year with 10 of the company’s 600 locations in the state, Green Thumb said.
The deal is rare, given that legal cannabis has so far been sold only in stand-alone dispensaries in the US and within pharmacies in countries such as Uruguay and Germany. By selling cannabis, which is still illegal at the federal level, at gas stations where consumers buy staples like snacks and cigarettes, the partnership may help push the drug further into the mainstream.
The agreement will “continue to normalize” cannabis by integrating it with regular consumer products,” Green Thumb Chief Executive Officer Ben Kovler said in an interview. “This is a futuristic deal.”
Financial terms between Chicago-based Green Thumb and Laval, Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., which owns Circle K, weren’t disclosed. Under the agreement, Green Thumb will lease space from Circle K locations and sell the cannabis.
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