Marijuana Business Magazine March 2020

John Schroyer is a senior reporter for Marijuana Business Magazine. You can reach him at johns@mjbizdaily.com. Marijuana Business Magazine | March 2020 90 NAME Brendan Blume POSITION Vice president of store development COMPANY Green Thumb Industries, doing business as Rise LOCATIONS Canton, Joliet, Mundelein and Quincy What was your biggest win on opening day? For us, the biggest win was everything went smoothly. There were no major hiccups. The state system didn’t go down. And the state served tons of customers—that’s huge. It was one of the most successful rollouts ever, so a huge win for us at GTI and the industry as a whole. What could have gone better? We probably could have planned better for having as many people as we did waiting outside at midnight on New Year’s Eve, but it was a great scene. We probably could have done a better job making sure the celebration was accommodating for that many people. When we do our next one in our next state, that’s something I’d like to plan for. What advice would you give other retailers to help opening day go as smoothly as possible? I’d say the thing that made us really successful is we partnered with the local communities, the police departments, the towns, the people at city hall that we’d been talking to for months about what our plan was and how we were going to handle every scenario. That was what gave everyone confidence that we were going to do this right and be successful. At the end of the day, it’s just being a good neighbor and letting everyone around you know. What should retailers be wary of as potential problems on opening day? Prepping for the volume of people. Making sure you’ve thought of every little scenario to keep people happy. No one’s in a bad mood, but keeping the peace, keeping people happy and keeping the lines going. Do you have any tips on what types of products to stock—or howmuch—to avoid shortages? We didn’t experience (any shortages) in the first days, but we try to keep as much of a diverse menu as possible while still taking care of the medical patients. That’d be my advice: Keep a diverse menu to keep people happy. Customers started lining up Dec. 31 to be among the first to purchase recreational marijuana at Rise Cannabis on Jan. 1, in Mundelein, Illinois. Courtesy Photo OPENING DAY LESSONS