One opened in St. Cloud earlier this year, with another in Maplewood following.

The first retail store specializing in the sale of pain-relieving, edible hemp products in the Twin Cities is now open.

CBD of Maplewood opened last month, and while other retail chains such as GNC now offer hemp oil products, this is the retailer in Minnesota dedicated solely to it.

The store carries products manufactured in Colorado and distributed by parent company CBD Hempdropz, which was created by Emily Christianson and supplies 7 locations across the country.

This includes CBD of Cloud at the Midtown Square Mall, which opened in May and is owned by Christianson's sister-in-law Marie Schneider.

The now-open Maplewood store at 2225 White Bear Avenue meanwhile is owned by her sister, Abbie Schneider, with the company planning to open another location, in Rogers, "very soon."

Items for sale at the stores include gummies, water-soluble drops, pain cream, face cream, tinctures, and animal products.

Each of these oils and edibles contain cannabidiol (CBD), which is a compound taken from the hemp plant that can reproduce the pain-killing, anxiety-reducing health effects of marijuana without the high.

That's because it contains only trace amounts of THC, another cannabinoid that causes psychoactive reactions when a person takes typical marijuana.

Because the products only use CBD taken from the hemp plant – and not its sister marijuana plant – it's legal in all 50 states.

It's proving hugely popular

CBD Hempdropz has opened three stores in Missouri and two in Florida before making the move to Minnesota.

"Minnesota has by far been the biggest growth so far," Christianson say.

"There are so many that don’t want to get high from medical marijuana but still want the benefits."

"St. Cloud grew to over $50,000 in sales in the first month just from word of mouth," she adds. "People feel good, they tell someone. Kind of a different approach than a vape shop or head shop."

"Our demographic is the 40-70 year olds, arthritis and fibromyalgia," Christianson notes. "Any inflammation. We do get our share of 30 something year old moms with anxiety."

We reported in May that Minnesota pet store chain Chuck & Don's had started selling CBD pet products at all of its Minnesota stores, as the market for legal and effective pain relief options continues to grow.