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Bloomington's First Cannabis Dispensary Now Open

Bloomington now has its first adult-use cannabis dispensary. The new Beyond/Hello store, located on Veterans Parkway near the intersection of G.E. Road, opened its doors to customers Tuesday morning.

This is the fourth Illinois retail location for Florida-based Jushi Holdings Inc., a multistate cannabis operator. The company runs 16 dispensaries nationwide.

Jushi Vice President of Retail Bryan Lloyd said the Bloomington store will supplement the demand seen at the Beyond/Hello location in Normal that opened last May. That dispensary was previously owned by The Green Solution that only served medical cannabis patients.

Since opening to recreational customers, lines have continued to wrap around the building at times.

“We’re a very data-driven organization, and what we see here in the local community is the demand for cannabis,” Lloyd said. “Yes, (it’s a) small community, but also large at heart when you talk about the need and want in the community, the universities in the area, and the local businesses—State Farm that’s down the road.”

Jushi holds both of the cannabis licenses currently allowed in the McLean County area by state regulators. Lloyd said that’s a huge advantage.

“Having limited licenses around the area just allows us to capitalize on the market and really be the brand for the local community,” he said. “We’re excited about the opportunity to be in a limited market in this area here, and feel really good about the direction and the future of our organization.”

Illinois’ adult-use cannabis program launched at the beginning of 2020. Lloyd said the first year was about making sure there was enough product to supply medical patients, while also satisfying recreational customers.

“Assuring on a weekend, which is your heavier traffic for adult-use, or during the week or early mornings when your medical customer comes in—just making sure that we have the right units on hand,” he said. “We want to always make sure that we have the right product and that we don’t ever lose a customer because we don’t have the product on our shelf.”

According to data from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation that oversees dispensary licensing, cannabis sales surpassed $1 billion in the first year. More than $669 million was adult-use, while medical accounted for about $331 million.

The city of Bloomington collects 3% sales tax adult-use cannabis sales.

Beyond/Hello Bloomington is located at 118 Keaton Place, in the old Slim Chickens building. The Normal dispensary is located at 501 Northtown Road. Both are open to adult customers over age 21, as well as medical patients. However, a company spokesperson notes that medical patients shopping at the Bloomington location will have to pay the city’s adult-use tax.

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Dana Vollmer is a reporter with WGLT. Dana previously covered the state Capitol for NPR Illinois and Peoria for WCBU.
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