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Second Legal Weed Shop Opens

By Gordon Dritschilo
THE RUTLAND HERALD
Marijuana buds sat on a display counter where customers could size them up like steaks at a butcher shop.

“The rule is they can see it, they can smell it, they can’t touch it,” said Grant Jakuboski, co-owner of Somewhere on the Mountain, Rutland’s second retail cannabis shop. “I often think the best way to pick out the best strain for you is what smells right.

Somewhere on the Mountain opened Friday in the North Main Street storefront remembered as the home of Mike’s Toys and Hobbies. Customers are stopped in a foyer where they have to provide identification before they can pass through into the sales area.

Jakuboski said he has a background in horticulture and worked at Vermont Hydroponic for a time. When marijuana was legalized in Vermont, he said his business partner Ronnie Kreth approached him about getting into the retail and manufacturing aspects of the business.

“Originally I was going to grow,” he said. “Everything fell into place for us to do all three. That’s what makes us different. We grow, we extract and we have a store. … We’re one of the few vertically integrated companies.”

Housemade edibles will have to wait for the company’s manufacturing license, Jakubowski said, but in the meantime they have products from other Vermont manufacturers. Most of what they have now is flower, he said, starting at $35 for an eighth of an ounce. Higher-end buds — which lined the counter in special plastic containers with built-in magnifying glasses for close inspection and bore names like “Sour Kush” and “Creamsicle” cost up to $50 for an eighth or $90 for a quarter-ounce.

Jakubowski said he is also dedicated to “ethically priced” CBD products.

“A lot of the industry provides overpriced, low-quality products,” he said.

With a third store expected to open at the former Vermont Butcher Shop location, Jakubowski said it will be interesting to see how much the local market can support. He said the line outside the city’s first shop, Mountain Girl Cannabis, was certainly encouraging, and prior to legalization there were a number of people serving the “traditional market.”

“If we have five or six dispensaries, we’re hoping to be the best,” he said.

gordon.dritschilo @rutlandherald.com

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