Building a Medical Marijuana Dispensary
When we chose our location in Riverside Wellness, we took on a site that needed some work. Originally the home of Hawg Jaw Barbeque, our building has been empty since 2017 when Hawg Jaw relocated to North Kansas. When the Riverside Wellness team found out that we received a dispensary license, we got right to work! While it may seem like not much was happening in early 2020, our team was working diligently to get our dispensary built out as quickly as possible to get medicinal marijuana to the patients of Missouri. Due to its location on Line Creek, our site required some extra work. We spent early 2020 working with the planning departments in Riverside and the Army Corp of Engineers to design a building plan that fulfills our patients needs, meets legal requirements and keeps Line Creek clean and safe. While dealing with a world that requires distance due to COVID 19, our engineers and architects figured out ways to collaborate, design and redesign to find a plan that satisfies the needs of our patients and our community.
“While dealing with a world that requires distance due to COVID 19, our engineers and architects figured out ways to collaborate, design and redesign to find a plan that satisfies the needs of our patients and our community. ”
Later, when the Department of Health and Senior Services announced that dispensaries were allowed to include drive through windows, it was back to the drawing board. Because of our mission to put patients needs first, Riverside Wellness could not pass up the opportunity to provide a quick and easy way for people to pick up their medicine from the comfort of their car, especially at a time when COVID is a concern for our patients, which may have immunocompromising conditions. Taking a little extra time to add this option for our patients seemed like an obvious decision.
“Nobody wants to open as bad as we do, and it’s finally happening. ”
With the addition of the drive through window, we had arrived. Riverside Wellness had a building plan. With a strong team of contractors, permits approved, and a plan in place, we were finally able to break ground on our site in October of 2020, and it’s been a busy couple months! If you’ve driven by, you may have seen the myriad of plumbers, electricians, signage companies, framers and more working hard to build a place we will call home. Nobody wants to open as bad as we do, and it is finally happening. With an aggressive build out schedule, followed immediately by an initial inspection, and staff training, Riverside Wellness plans to open its doors to our first medical marijuana patients in early 2021. While it seems like this year has lasted forever and like 2021 will never come, it is right around the corner! What started as a vision to serve the medical marijuana patients of Missouri is now becoming a reality – a building where we can gather and enjoy the benefits of cannabis together.