Via Community News Service, in partnership with Vermont State University Castleton for the Rutland Herald.
After two years in a small building on Route 7, Pine Grove Organics is making a move 2 miles down the road to downtown Brandon.
The dispensary, which has been operating at 335 Grove St., will soon relocate to 16 Park St., in the space formerly occupied by Li’s Chinese Restaurant. This move marks a major step forward for the business and its deeper integration into the local community.
“We were over at 335 Grove St. for the last two years. It was this small, strange building on the side of Route 7 that we were able to start our business at and afford,” explained Nate Reitman, co-founder of Pine Grove Organics. “Yeah, and we’ve just been so enthralled with the town of Brandon that we’ve been looking for a way to, you know, get closer to this community. We feel like it would be our forever home down there.”
The decision to move was driven by business growth and a desire to be more accessible to the Brandon community.
“Buildings like this in town, and right on the street is awesome,” Reitman said.
Co-founder Greg Yelnosky agreed, saying that moving was “a necessity.”
“We’re outgrowing our space. We don’t have much room. Being closer to town, being closer to foot traffic, being more integrated into the Brandon community is definitely part of the move,” he said.
With the new location, Pine Grove Organics is preparing to expand its offerings, including the implementation of a medical-use endorsement.
“Medical-use endorsement is coming down the pipeline. That should hopefully be live by July 1 here in the state,” Yelnosky said when asked about new features of the new space.
“And that’ll allow recreational dispensaries to carry and sell medical products to medical patients and serve medical patients tax-free, which is what we always wanted to do,” he added.
While the retail experience will remain largely the same initially, there are long-term plans to utilize the entire space.
“We got the whole building because we do have plans to use the full space. But getting started with retail here is phase one,” Yelnosky said.
Like any major relocation, the move has come with logistical hurdles, particularly in renovating an older Vermont building.
“Thankfully, I think at this point, we’ve become pretty good at renovating old Vermont buildings between our old shop, our current grow location, and now this building. We’ve learned a lot about old buildings with this move,” Reitman said.
Third co-founder Ben Hsiung reflected on the support from the small town of Brandon.
“The town has been great to work with, and I think they were excited to see a new use for the space,” he said.
However, some local confusion has arisen with the news of multiple dispensaries opening in town.
“The only thing is, there are other shops opening in town around the same time, and as people have started to hear that another dispensary is going in here, they don’t know it’s us. It’s, like, ‘no, it’s not another one. It’s us. It’s your local guys. You know us,’” Reitman said.
The new space will allow Pine Grove Organics to create a more curated retail experience.
“We get to design this space. Whereas in the previous space, we were confined to what we had,” Reitman explained. “There’s going to be different customer displays, a lot of engagement for customer information on product types, on just different ways to consume. And so, it’ll be a lot more friendly for, I think, all levels of cannabis consumers.”
Pine Grove Organics is targeting an early April opening at the new location, ideally before April 20.
The owners said the next sort of phase of the project is working with the state to coordinate the transfer of inventory, the cutover from old shop to new. The business will maintain its current hours, with possible adjustments in the summer.
Beyond the move, the dispensary is also looking forward to the expansion of its local cultivation efforts.
“The grow is being built out on the other side of town. We’re expecting our first real harvest this summer. So having more retail space to accommodate the growing side of things coming online,” Yelnosky said.
For those unfamiliar with Pine Grove Organics, Hsiung said the message is simple.
“We got the best weed at the best prices!” he said jokingly.
“You know, stop in and check it out. I think the experience that we offer is very different than the experience that you can get anywhere else in the state,” Reitman added.