Another first for the state of Colorado – even though it’s not a first for the cannabis industry as a whole – is a drive-through dispensary, opening up in a small town in western Colorado called Parachute. Tumbleweed Express has just gotten the final approval from the Parachute Board of Trustees and now they are expecting to be ready to open up by the beginning of March and will be residing in a building that was previously a car wash.
“As far as I can tell, we are not aware of this business model ever coming up before,” said Robert Goulding, spokesman for the state Marijuana Enforcement Division.
Even though the shop will be designed as a drive-through, they will still have to abide by all the usual restrictions and regulations in place for all cannabis businesses – including that marijuana may not be visible from outside the dispensary as well as several security and surveillance measures that are unique to the cannabis industry. Also, persons under 21 years of age will not be allowed on the premises – and that includes in the back seat of a car, meaning everyone in the car will be required to show ID in order for anyone to purchase anything.
Since marijuana can’t be easily visible from outside the dispensary, they have worked it out to where products will be able to be screened by viewers while in the drive through – after all, most people would want to take a look at the product they are buying when multiple choices are available. Likely the only reason that this will work out is because of the car wash design – making the drive-through enclosed almost entirely, making it impossible for someone walking buy to see the products as they are being shown.
“In December 2016, $25,016 of the town’s $93,320 tax receipt figure, or 26.8 percent of the town’s sale tax for the month, was from the sale of recreational marijuana,” McArthur wrote in a memo to the town’s Board of Trustees. “The percentage is down from previous months, indicating that other sales tax is increasing as a percentage of the total.”
Considering cannabis legalization has boosted revenue for the state – specifically the town of Parachute – so positively, it is no surprise that the this new business is going to be welcomed by the small town. Being the only shop of this kind so far is sure to gain the attention of some tourists who would have otherwise merely been driving straight through, or right past, the little town and that opens the opportunity for those same travelers to potentially eat or stay the night as well – which all will end up benefiting the entire community in the end.
