Olathe will soon be home to a recreational cannabis dispensary, making it the closest in proximity to Montrose.

Green Meadows, the company opening the new dispensary, has mainly operated medical dispensaries.

The small, local chain has one medical-only dispensary in Delta and another in Colona.

Green Meadows Recreational Dispensary, soon to open in Olathe. (Justin Tubbs | MBT)

The new dispensary, which can be seen on the left side of the U.S. 50, heading from Montrose to Delta, will be Green Meadows’ only recreational dispensary.

“We’ve heard a lot of people in Montrose excited they won’t have to make the drive to Ridgway,” said Green Meadows General Manager Trevor Measom this week.“

Currently, marijuana sales are not allowed in Montrose city limits, and as of last year, the city wasn’t looking to bring a ballot question to voters.

Until Jan. 1 of this year, Olathe hadn’t allowed marijuana sales — medical or recreational.

That changed because of two ballot questions that went to voters in November 2023. One was the questions of whether to allow retail and medical marijuana establishments. That question received a big yes, 130 votes of yes to 96 “no” votes.

The other ballot question was whether to approve a 5% excise tax on cannabis sales. That also passed.

The person who brought that question to the Olathe Town Council originally was Mike Hillier, who serves on the council and owns Uncompahgre River RV Park.

He said the hope with the ballot question was to hopefully bring more tax dollars to Olathe.

“Basically we were struggling for revenue. We were struggling to keep,” Hillier told the Business Times. “It was mainly the police department that we were having problems with — maintaining staff, attracting staff. We get them trained up and then they go off anywhere they could because it’s an immediate pay jump to go somewhere else.”

The drive-thru window for mobile orders. (Justin Tubbs | MBT)

Also on the ballot in 2023 was a public safety sales tax. That sales tax wasn’t approved; but Hillier says the tax dollars coming in to the new dispensary might make a small difference.

“In general, the whole of cannabis sales have dropped,” he said, talking about a statewide trend. “As far as what it’s going to do economically, I don’t know. It will bring people into the town, but barely because it’s on the highway, off the business loop. ”

But cannabis tourism wasn’t why the council took the question to the voters in the first place, Hillier said. “It’s really just our hopes to get that additional sales tax coming in.”

Olathe allows for two marijuana retail licenses, but so far, Green Meadows is the only store to apply.

Green Meadows’ owner, who asked that the MBT only use his first name for this article (John), is an Olathe local and has been on the West Slope his whole life.

He was at the new location, which was being readied for opening later this month. He hopes to have the facility running by July 29.

His company also owns a local grow, so there will be local products. His hope is to keep the whole operation as local as possible.

“I started going in and advocating for it because I thought this would be good for the community,” he said. “Jut everything that we have going on here, we’re kind of slowly dying as a community because of revenue.”

He said the cannabis industry doesn’t see much local business anymore. He said many of the dollars and profits go to large dispensary chains that have stores all over the state. He said he prides himself on being a local business owner.

But he said the medical side of the business has died down for him, so he’s hoping a recreational dispensary will rejuvenate business for him.

As of Wednesday, contractors were still working on the inside of the building as well as the parking lot.

More about the dispensary

Green Meadows plans to have an open concept in the store, with a large show room.

John said he is hiring Spanish speakers at the new location and hopes to appeal to all kinds of customers, locals and tourists.

The dispensary will also have a drive-thru window for online and pick-up orders.

Justin Tubbs is the Montrose Business Times editor. He can be reached by email at justin@montrosebusinesstimes.com or by phone at 970-765-0915 or mobile at 254-246-2260.