Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 9 D E C E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 2 0 Need help finding or retaining a skilled workforce? We finance and advise businesses, helping them to create competitive advantages by investing in good jobs for their employees. 207.504.5900 www.ceimaine.org B I Z M O N E Y Not all retailers are doing well, but marijuana sector is taking off B y W i l l i a m H a l l C annabis firm Sweet Dirt opened Kennebec County's first recreational-use marijuana store on Dec. 9, as Maine's new legal market for the drug con- tinues to expand. Sweet Dirt, based in Eliot, opened at 475 Kennedy Memorial Drive in Waterville and plans three others in central and southern Maine. The 3,100-square-foot dispensary, just off Interstate 95, offers a variety of cannabis products including dried flower, concentrates, edibles and ancillary products from Maine-licensed producers and artisans. Sweet Dirt also offers its own organically farmed cannabis. "We think residents of and visitors to central Maine will appreciate the warm aesthetic and unparalleled convenience of our Waterville location along with our robust menu of more than a dozen strains plus edibles and concentrates," said Jessica Oliver, senior vice president of cannabis operations. Sweet Dirt was founded in 2015 by Hughes Pope and his wife, Kristin, as a registered medical cannabis dispensary and grower. The company plans to open its second recreational-use store in early 2021 at 1207 Forest Ave. in Portland. Another store is planned for Eliot, where Sweet Dirt in January also broke ground on what it called Maine's largest cannabis greenhouse. The 32,800-square-foot, year-round facility, at Sweet Dirt's headquarters at 495 Harold L. Dow Highway, replaces one destroyed by fire in June 2019. The Waterville store is one of 13 recreational-use retailers that now hold active licenses in Maine. The state began issuing the first ones in September, four years after Maine voters legalized recreational adult use, and the legal market opened on Oct. 9. Six licensees began sales that month, and three more opened their doors in November, according to the state's Office of Marijuana Policy. For the first month of recreational sales, retailers grossed $1.4 million from 22,000 transactions, state regulators said recently. Data from the office also show there are dozens of businesses now seeking a license for recreational sales. Waterville City Council voted unanimously in July to approve Sweet Dirt's appli- cation for its new store. Prior to the Waterville opening, Sweet Dirt CEO Jim Henry said: "Medical cannabis has long been a strong contributor to revenue in Maine. Legalized adult-use cannabis sales, along with a thriving, local medical cannabis market, will be an economic engine the state desperately needs at this time." P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F S W E E T D I R T Sweet Dirt will open its first recreational-use store just off Interstate 95 in Waterville. Legalized adult-use cannabis sales ... will be an economic engine the state desperately needs at this time. — Jim Henry Sweet Dirt CEO

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