Just about the only difference from any typical shopping experience is that customers have to show their ID in the lobby. This isn't your usual boutique. It’s Harvest of Tempe, one of the first cannabis dispensaries to open in Arizona.
Though the initial seeds for Harvest were sowed in 2011, Saturday marks its 10th anniversary in business on East Elliot Road just west of South Kyrene Road. The celebration opened today at 8 a.m. and continues with giveaways and special pricing throughout the day.
For the party, the first 100 customers received a half-gram pod from STIIIZY, a two-pack of edibles from Wana, and coffee and pizza from local food trucks. The first 50 customers who spent $80 at the shop picked up an invite to a penthouse afterparty from 4:20 p.m. to 7:10 p.m. Tempe Mayor Corey Woods even joined the celebration for a ribbon cutting at 1 p.m. with Steve White, cofounder of Harvest and now president of Trulieve, which acquired Harvest in 2021.
“Some specific brands will be here on-site,” said Konya Lindsey, Trulieve's executive marketing director for the Southwest. “There’ll be a DJ here, people can come in, grab some really great deals and celebrate with us.”
Harvest of Tempe sells a wide variety of products and brands, including flower, pre-roll, gummies, chocolate and vapes.
Geri Koeppel
A struggle to open
While the anniversary is a time to have fun, it’s also an opportunity to reflect on the victories along the way to legal weed in Arizona in 2020. “People outside Arizona said it’s not going to pass, it’s a red state,” White said. “They don’t fully appreciate the libertarian nature of the state.”And even after the ballot initiative passed in November 2020, operators faced uncertainty.
“If I look back and I’m honest, I questioned whether or not we would get that first store open,” White said. “At the time, the county prosecutor was promising anyone who opened a store was going to prison. You had those kinds of things. You were basically preparing for the potential loss of liberty.”
Ten years later, Harvest is now part of a cannabis company with the largest retail footprint in the nation. It has nearly 190 dispensaries, including 15 Harvest and five Trulieve locations in Arizona, with another opening next month in Apache Junction. Trulieve also has the most licenses in Arizona at 21 and operates 4 million square feet of cultivation space across its multi-state operation.
When Harvest of Tempe opened in 2013, White said, Tempe police had concerns about crime and worked with the store on security measures, including installing exterior concrete flower planters to keep vehicles from crashing through the front windows, cameras and bulletproof glass, which made it difficult to provide interaction between customers and staff.
The police and property owner also didn't want the smell of weed wafting into adjacent suites, so Harvest changed the ventilation system for the store. Harvest also installed a vault, which White said was an innovation many dispensaries have since replicated.
Steve White cofounded Harvest and is now president of Trulieve, which acquired Harvest in 2021.
Trulieve
Product proliferation
Since its inception, the store has doubled in size from 1,280 to about 2,500 square feet, and the product lines have expanded greatly. When Harvest opened as a medical dispensary, there were no licenses to grow cannabis in Arizona. The company had to get weed from a caregiver network. “That didn’t change for a couple of years once licensed grows had properly scaled,” White recalled. So Harvest carried just a few strains of cannabis."We did about eight transactions that first day and I think five of them were employees and/or investors,” White laughed. “Over time, we got a lollipop, we eventually got a brownie and then we created a vape pen."
“Then you saw the proliferation of different product options come in around 2016, and then it just exploded after that," he added.
Now, Trulieve carries a bevy of brands, including Wyld and Loveli gummies, Kiva chocolate, Roll One flower and its own brand, Modern Flower. Well-trained budtenders suggest products based on customer needs — whether they’re looking to better the quality of sleep, pain relief or simply a good buzz. It offers a variety of price points, daily deals and the ability to order online and pick up.
“I think we provide that range of product quality and value and availability,” Lindsey said. “There’s people that come in on a very regular basis, they know the deals, they know what they want. We also pay very intentional and clear attention to those customers who may not have that intent and may want to ask questions and need additional insight on what products might be best for them.”
Looking back, White said, he’s seen increased access, greater adoption rates, additional research being done to expand medical use, new and more precise formulations and products becoming more predictable in their effects. He believes all of this will continue, particularly with greater numbers of users and safer products.
White said he hopes that cannabis will be legalized federally, which would help address the complicated compliance, regulatory, tax and banking hurdles the industry still faces.
“If you took all that money [paid in taxes] and were able to reinvest it, it would be great to see what we could do," White said.
