The first retail cannabis shop in Minnesota to pass inspection now has a cannabis retail license, but it will still take time before the Albert Lea shop is open for business.
While the Smoking Tree in Albert Lea is allowed to open immediately, owner Jacob Schlichter says it might take a couple of days or weeks before he has any product to sell.
Schlichter is a social equity microbusiness owner, so he only plans to have one store. Minnesota has issued four licenses for micro-businesses so far, according to the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM).
More than two years after the state legalized recreational cannabis, businesses are finally getting off the ground and, for the first time, they're ready to open off tribal land. This was not Schlichter's original plan, even though he was in the office when Gov. Walz signed legalization into law.
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