On June 21, Jungle Boys, the Valley’s newest dispensary, opened at Seventh Street and Fairmount Avenue, just south of Indian School Road. The dispensary chain has five stores in California — it was founded in Los Angeles — and 14 in Florida, where only medical cannabis is legal. The Phoenix location is the chain’s first in Arizona and the only other store in operation outside those two coastal states. The brand has been family-owned since its inception in 2006.
“Arizona’s thriving cannabis community and rich culture make it the perfect next step in our expansion,” Jungle Boys founder Ivan Vanorwick said in a press release.
While the Phoenix store is new, the building in which it is housed has a history of its own.
Originally the boxy brick building was home to a recording studio: Audio Recorders of Arizona. The studio was built in 1963 and officially opened the following year. While most of the artists who recorded there in the 1960s and 1970s largely have been forgotten, a few notable musicians did cut tracks there, including a young Waylon Jennings and an early version of Alice Cooper’s band called the Spiders. The business was sold in 1991.
The Phoenix store is being run in collaboration with and under the license of Story Cannabis, another chain with stores across the country — 10 of which are in Arizona. In the Grand Canyon State, anyone selling weed has to hold a license from the Arizona Department of Health Services, each of which reportedly costs between $7 and $12 million.
Vanorwick started cultivating cannabis with inspiration from his mother to help ease his father’s pain while he was dying from cancer. Later, he turned his growing chops into a business, starting Jungle Boys in the mid-2000s when only medical marijuana was legal and the company faced endless hurdles for staying compliant.
Throughout the years, the company has made headlines several times for such challenges. Its Los Angeles store was raided in 2022 by California authorities over claims that the chain owed $66,000 in taxes. At the time, Vanorwick said the company had filed an appeal to contest the money owed, adding that it was based on late fees racked up during the pandemic when the California tax office was closed and the company needed to pay with cash in person. He also noted that Jungle Boys paid $18 million in taxes that year.
The Jungle Boys brand name made headlines again when a Jungle Boys shop was opened in New York City right across from City Hall. The store was fined and ultimately closed down for operating without a proper license. However, the company told Phoenix New Times the store was a knockoff and that the brand worked to shut it down.
Jungle Boys also sells merchandise and clothing at the store, and an express pickup window will be available for buyers who place an order online.
Courtesy of Jungle Boys
Flower and merchandise
Jungle Boys is known primarily for its in-house growing chops, creating new and rare strains while adhering to a “strict no-pesticide policy,” the press release said.The company’s Phoenix grow facility that supplies the new store has been up and running since January, said Jungle Boys head cultivator Roach. (Yes, that’s what he goes by.) Dealing with Arizona’s climate has been a challenge, but the batches are continuing to improve.
“What makes us special is that we do have such a strict quality control process. We pulled several harvests that we chose not to release because they didn’t quite meet the level that we need them to be,” Roach said in an interview with Phoenix New Times. “I think we’ve got a good grip on it. We’re stoked.”
Jungle Boys sells flower — including strains with names like Blam, Blu Zerd, Raspado and Zazooka — and products from a few other cannabis brands. It also sells merchandise and clothing at the store. An express pickup window will be available for buyers who place an order online.
Roach said the store served more than 400 people by midday on its first day of operation.
While the store isn’t selling concentrates yet, Roach said Jungle Boys is trying to get those products ready by July 10 — the cannabis holiday for oils.
“We would have loved to open up with our rosin pens, our flavored pens and the whole assortment of what we offer in California,” Roach said. “But this stuff takes time. We want to make sure we do it right.”
The Phoenix store is open every day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
