Cochise County cannabis consumers (and Santa Cruz County ones, too) can breath a smoke-filled sigh of relief. There is finally a dispensary in southern Southern Arizona.
Florida-based, multi-state dispensary chain Trulieve opened it's newest store in Sierra Vista last month on October 8, it's third branded store opening since the summer.
"It's a brand new store," said Steve White, current president of Trulieve. "We're excited to be in Sierra Vista."
The new pot shop is located at 1633 AZ-92 #7, and the current hours of operation will be 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day.
It's Trulieve's third branded store, with another that opened in Tucson in September and another that opened in the Phoenix. But really, Trulieve's footprint in Arizona is much larger.
White confirmed that "over the course of time," almost all Harvest branded dispensaries in Arizona would transition over to Trulieve branded locations.
That's due to Trulieve's acquisition of Harvest back in October 2021.
So what does the company expect from the Sierra Vista market? White said that, personally, he could recall the small-town nature of the area after visits he took years ago.
"I used to go see a relative who lived in Sierra Vista and so I used to travel there as far back as the '80s," said Steve White, current president of Trulieve. "I remember when the biggest deal in Sierra Vista was the city got a bowling alley."
It's a different kind of bowl customers will be purchasing at the new dispensary, with Trulieve offering in-store brands as well as plenty of other Arizona-based and nationally recognized names to boot.
Since the location is near Nogales and Douglas, not to mention near-by towns in Mexico, the expected clientele is a bit up in the air, according to White.
"We don't really know what's going to happen, given our proximity to the border," he said. "What we do know is Cochise County is in need of access to cannabis."
The location is operating under a recreational-only cannabis license, known as a "rural infill license."
As a benefit, that means that, even if Trulieve can't make the dispensary work, any person/s or entity that might purchase the license must stay open any other potential location in Cochise County.
However, it also means medical patients who hold a state-issued medical recommendation won't be able to purchase medical-only products like more potent edibles and tinctures.
And they won't be eligible to skirt the states 16% excise tax, another benefit of holding a medical card.
Still, White is excited to get the location going to start on the journey to making it a part of the larger Sierra Vista community.
"For us, this is really an opportunity to provide our products and our service to Sierra Vista and surrounding folks in Cochise County," he said.
