Maybe you have heard of this new-ish concept to acquire your meds through THIS article from LA Weekly.
Basically West Coast Collective has started a new DBA called the California Heritage Market which opened its doors today. They are trying to give us a new way to get out medicine directly from the producers of it. This thus connects us with our growers, which is a must for the quality of our medicine to rise.
I decided to check it out on opening day and see what the hype was all about.
Apparently I wasn't the only one. Doors opened at 10am... I arrived around 11 am to this massive quarter mile plus line. I decided to stick it out and wait through the slow moving line to check out the wares. Apparently the reason for the long line, is because this is technically just normal dispensary, you have to get signed in and verified per the usual. We were given a small half sheet of paper to sign date and initial. As camera crews, police officers and food truck vendors started to line the street, we saw people walking past who had already been inside and asked them how it was. There were mixed reviews. There was plenty of security to keep everyone informed on what we needed to do to stay legal and safe.
After a 2 hour wait outside and in the waiting room (while I was being verified) I finally gained entrance to the "farmers market".
The warehouse space was quite nice. Plenty big, clean and cool temperature wise.
There were 4 rows of booths with 6-8 vendors in each. Vendors offered: potpori, clothes, glass, vapes, edibles, concentrates, flower amongst other items. There was a place to sit down, dj spinning some tunes. Pretty sweet.
I personally came to look at flower with the expectation I would get to speak directly to growers about how the plants were grown, their lineage and be able to get a good price on my meds.
Upon inspecting the booths I didn't find much. The average price per 8th from most of the booths was $40 and most had OG's. It was pretty packed around the "good booth" which was offering $8 G's and some pretty decent deals - however the line was at least another 30 minutes. There was not much organization for the booths - it was hard to tell what each booth offered and what their prices were. As much as I wouldnt mind killing an hour possibly 2 looking for some good deals, 3 is really pushing it. After that 2 hour wait outside I just couldn't bring myself to wait around for saving a couple bucks, if that.
There was a decent variety of products offered, but mostly edibles. The flowers I saw were just OK, some decent concentrates. Prices were honestly higher than I usually pay at my regular clinics, quality wasn't anything special. Perhaps the one "good booth" could have changed my mind a bit, but I think most of us were expecting quite a bit more offerings. Perhaps they were not anticipating a 500 person turn out and ran out of material early on. I left empty handed.
The Farmers Market is a great idea, although not the first in Southern California. I think more shops should adopt this business model as I think there is TONS of potential. I am happy I went to experience this event today, its a sign of great things to come. I think it could have been executed better in selection and pricing of material - a lot of us were coming to buy in bulk and save, but many of us did leave disapointed.
I hope this project moves forward and grows, the potential impact this can have on the MMJ community in SoCal is huge. This is definitely a step in the right direction.
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