Finally, another reason, three in fact, to pack the kids in the car and come to Naperville; three pot shops are on the horizon. It doesn’t get any better than that, unless of course, there were four or more. It’s probably just a matter of time. Pot shops popping up like Starbucks with drive-thru windows. What do the kids want today, maybe some yummy, gummy-peach-praline-pot-pops. Think of the possibilities.
Now that the nine-member Naperville city council has approved the addition of three recreational pot shops, three companies have submitted applications. Tentative locations include ZenLeaf at 1516 N. Naper Blvd., PDI Medical which is an affiliate of Cresco Labs doing business as Sunrise which would be located at 2740 W. 75th St. near Rt. 59, and Green Thumb Industries which already is doing business (3C Compassionate Care Centers) in northwest Naperville as the only medical cannabis dispensary located at 1700 Quincy Avenue. The location would be remodeled to accommodate both medical and recreational with the new name ‘Rise’ as in getting high.
Green Thumb Industries has the distinct advantage of already establishing a track record of doing business in Naperville. However that advantage, is also a disadvantage for the same reason; their track record, which leaves much to be desired.
Watchdog decided to ask medical-card-carrying 3-C customers how the process of obtaining medical cannabis is working with 3-C and here are some of the comments:
- Very long wait times
- Mistakes in the order
- Sale prices not reflected in receipt, hence overcharged
- Items out of stock
- High employee turnover
- Diminishing quality of product
- Online ordering not efficient
- Continuity of product, items once available, no longer available
- Items provided substituted for items ordered
- Twist and turn containers not opening when twisting and turning
- Ordering off a list without seeing what you’re considering buying
- Can’t look at the purchased items until off the property, hence if order is incorrect, it becomes, ‘he said, she said’
- If you call, you typically get a recording, without talking to a person
- Unable to reach person-in-charge
That is a huge list of missed opportunities for a company looking to expand in Naperville.
What would you realistically expect from a company whose profits are made off of the addiction and misery of stupid adults and innocent children?
First there are tons of state regulation on these dispensaries that make the “pop up like Starbucks with drive thru” narrative complete BS. Beside the city cap three, there is the state limit on the number of dispensaries in our district (which has almost be reached with the 3 new dispensaries on our borders in neighboring cities and these three) and then the limit on each operator (only allowed to operated no more then 10 dispensaries with the state). So for this outrageous state to happen several laws would need to be changed on the local and state level.
Second is market saturation. Remember these are businesses operated by professionals and as the Opt Out group kept pointing out they will want to maximize profit. That means avoiding opening dispensaries in communities that demographics indicate are already saturated. Of course if you sincerely believe cannabis will become as popular as coffee and cheap hamburgers then I can see why you would compare them to Starbucks and McDonald’s.
Finally people will not be loading up the kid to come to Naperville to get “pot”. First because there are already closer dispensaries in Aurora, Warrenville, Plainfield, Woodridge, etc. Second because no one under 21 can get into a dispensary (unlike liquors stores and tobacco shops) so bring the kid is pointless.
As to quality of service, well… let’s just say if anyone has a google rating of 5 stars you need to be suspicious, very suspicious. Because as the old saying goes you can please all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time.
Jim, I understand that pot has a mellowing effect which might benefit you by countering the amount of caffeine you’re apparently ingesting. You may want to lighten up a bit. Regarding your comment about pop-up pot-drive-thru’s, being ‘complete BS’, it wasn’t long ago when SNL had comedy skits which now represent main stream life. When politicians begin counting the tax dollars being generated from Pot, the dispensary limit and limitations will evaporate. When the first drug store popped up on a street corner, doctors weren’t very happy, however in no time drugstores were on almost every street corner. Who would have guessed there would be mattress stores on every block, I mean how many mattresses can be sold, apparently a lot. What’s more popular, mattresses or Pot?
The first drug store opened in 1823. So it has taken almost 200 years for drug store to become as common place as they are today. And yes, it is possible the attitude toward cannabis could be radically different from today in 200 years.
Comparing cannabis to mattresses is again about as realistic as comparing it to coffee and hamburgers.
Jim, you don’t quit, do you, so let’s agree to disagree. My guess is that some day within the next year, I will drive by and see you standing in line at your nearest pot shop and/or mattress store.
P.S. When Cresco Labs acquired PDI Medical last year they rebranded it as Sunnyside, not Sunrise.
Sunnyside, Sunrise, sunset, Sonny and Cher, it all begins to blend in, however thank you for the correction.