LittleDabbie
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The legal marijuana market in Longview would make for an interesting economics class.
Tight supplies and high prices marked the opening of recreational stores in July, but the tables have already turned.
“We’re neck-to-neck with black market prices, maybe a dollar or two higher” per gram, said Andy Dhalai, owner of 420 Holiday, the recreational marijuana store at 2028 10th Ave. near the Triangle Center.
The bright-green former house was quiet for a moment Tuesday afternoon, but Dhalai said his shop has been bustling as word has spread of $10-a-gram cannabis (including taxes), which also compares to medical prices. He said higher-quality product is $15 to $25 per gram.
That’s still a departure from the sticker shock many experienced when stores first opened, offering grams of cannabis for $35 and more.
Still, product reliably ran out at those prices, so it wasn’t until competition from more growers and more retailers that prices started to fall in late summer.
At Westside 420 Recreational at 4503 Ocean Beach Highway, the story has been similar — lower prices and larger supply.
The shop has sold $10 1-gram joints since it opened in September.
“That’s a great deal right now — still a great deal six months from now,” shop owner Sally Sexton said.
She said product turns over about every week-and-a-half at the shop.
“We just finally got our signs up, so it’s been wonderful. We’ve met so many people, people from everywhere,” Sexton said. “I think all 50 states now. So it’s like, woo-hoo!”
At Freedom Market — which has locations along West Side Highway and at 14th Avenue and Fir Street in Longview — prices have been a little slower to fall.
“Prices are coming down, things are starting to do what we thought they would,” owner Kathy Nelson said. “We’re getting better wholesale prices and passing that on to the consumer.”
The shop keeps up with competition with $12 joints containing 1.4 grams of pot, and other packages have fallen under $20 a gram, depending on its packaging.
“We’re still heavy in stuff we paid more for,” Freedom Market employee Breana Alleman said. She expects that within a month, the average price will be $17 or $18 a gram, and cheaper in bulk.
In Vancouver, grams are still averaging around $25 to $30 or more for many offerings at New Vansterdam and Main Street Marijuana, though some packages are being sold close to $15.
With four retail pot shops, the Longview/Kelso area still has more open stores than Vancouver (two) and Seattle (three).
It was the backlog of growers and processors waiting to be licensed that originally led to high prices out the gate. That discrepancy seems to be falling: For the 58 retailers now operating in the state, there are 25 growers and 86 processors. In August there were 15 growers and 30 processors for 29 stores.
http://tdn.com/news/local/pot-price...cle_c25bab1c-6a38-11e4-9810-c3b967876d4d.html
Tight supplies and high prices marked the opening of recreational stores in July, but the tables have already turned.
“We’re neck-to-neck with black market prices, maybe a dollar or two higher” per gram, said Andy Dhalai, owner of 420 Holiday, the recreational marijuana store at 2028 10th Ave. near the Triangle Center.
The bright-green former house was quiet for a moment Tuesday afternoon, but Dhalai said his shop has been bustling as word has spread of $10-a-gram cannabis (including taxes), which also compares to medical prices. He said higher-quality product is $15 to $25 per gram.
That’s still a departure from the sticker shock many experienced when stores first opened, offering grams of cannabis for $35 and more.
Still, product reliably ran out at those prices, so it wasn’t until competition from more growers and more retailers that prices started to fall in late summer.
At Westside 420 Recreational at 4503 Ocean Beach Highway, the story has been similar — lower prices and larger supply.
The shop has sold $10 1-gram joints since it opened in September.
“That’s a great deal right now — still a great deal six months from now,” shop owner Sally Sexton said.
She said product turns over about every week-and-a-half at the shop.
“We just finally got our signs up, so it’s been wonderful. We’ve met so many people, people from everywhere,” Sexton said. “I think all 50 states now. So it’s like, woo-hoo!”
At Freedom Market — which has locations along West Side Highway and at 14th Avenue and Fir Street in Longview — prices have been a little slower to fall.
“Prices are coming down, things are starting to do what we thought they would,” owner Kathy Nelson said. “We’re getting better wholesale prices and passing that on to the consumer.”
The shop keeps up with competition with $12 joints containing 1.4 grams of pot, and other packages have fallen under $20 a gram, depending on its packaging.
“We’re still heavy in stuff we paid more for,” Freedom Market employee Breana Alleman said. She expects that within a month, the average price will be $17 or $18 a gram, and cheaper in bulk.
In Vancouver, grams are still averaging around $25 to $30 or more for many offerings at New Vansterdam and Main Street Marijuana, though some packages are being sold close to $15.
With four retail pot shops, the Longview/Kelso area still has more open stores than Vancouver (two) and Seattle (three).
It was the backlog of growers and processors waiting to be licensed that originally led to high prices out the gate. That discrepancy seems to be falling: For the 58 retailers now operating in the state, there are 25 growers and 86 processors. In August there were 15 growers and 30 processors for 29 stores.
http://tdn.com/news/local/pot-price...cle_c25bab1c-6a38-11e4-9810-c3b967876d4d.html
