FARGO - Discontent returned to Fargo-Moorhead Friday, April 12, and that is something that could have a lot of people high-fiving.

Jordan Tepley, the manager of the counter-culture lifestyle franchise, says news of the grand opening at 512 Broadway in downtown Fargo has been shared more than 150 times from the firm’s Facebook page.

“I hear a lot of buzz in the community,” Tepley said Thursday, April 11, as he took a break from some last-minute stocking of shelves.

Tepley, who with his brother, Alex, co-owned the now shuttered The Dragon’s Hoard gaming and toy store in Moorhead, said he jumped at the chance to manage the new store.

“We’ve always wanted to be in this marketplace. A lot of the people that work for the company (Discontent) love Fargo. We’re just really integrated into the community,” Tepley said. “We just have a lot of roots here, and it’s important for us to be in this marketplace.”

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There was a Discontent store owned by Tom Tepley on Main Avenue in Moorhead. It officially closed for good in early January 2012.

Tom Tepley’s employees opened other Discontent stores in Montana (two in Billings), Colorado (two in Grand Junction) and one in Waite Park, Minn. (St. Cloud area). The company is now transitioning to being fully employee-owned, company President Rusty Steele said.

“What people remember of Discontent isn’t what it is now. Employees have taken over the company,” Steele said.

A Grand Forks Discontent store is not tied to the other Discontent stores.

The Fargo franchise shop is an experiment.

The 800-square-foot space is much smaller than the other Discontent shops.

“This store that we’re opening up is kind of a test store to see how we can open up a smaller, more streamlined location for franchising,” Jordan Tepley said.

No space is wasted. Product is displayed floor to ceiling, front to back, with much of the stock arrayed in bright, clean display cases.

There is a wide selection of e-cigarettes and vaporizers (to vaporize substances to inhale), lighters, torches, rolling papers and hookahs (“college kids love ‘em”).

“We try to cater to anybody’s type of smoking preference,” Tepley said.

Another case features hemp- and hemp seed-infused products (including massage oil, lotions, creams, fragrances, conditioners and soaps). And there is a wall filled with cannabidiol (CBD) products.

“CBD is becoming really popular all over the country,” Tepley said.

CBD oil has become a hot item in states that have legalized medical marijuana, according to WebMD.

The non-intoxicating marijuana extract is being credited with helping to treat everything from epileptic seizures to anxiety to inflammation to sleeplessness, though according to WebMD, other than for treating epilepsy, the evidence of efficacy is still scant.

“It’s poppin’ up all over the place. People really like it,” Tepley said. “There’s nothing in here that we carry that people don’t want to buy.”

For a local flavor, there Terp’s Candy, a terpenes hard candy made by a Fargo firm.

You can also browse the incense, T-shirts, hats, outerwear, coffee mugs and spray paint.

If that’s not enough, a separate room to the right of the front door is reserved for art, with cases full of blown glass objects and water pipes.

There are 20 to 25 artists represented, Tepley said. “A lot of them worked really hard to make orders for us really quickly,” he said.

Chelsea Dahlstrom of Trapper Studio is the featured glass blowing artist. Among her works are detailed glass-blown fish.

Tepley said a glass blowing station will be installed so artists can work and demonstrate their craft.

“We kind of want to create a glass-blowing community,” Tepley said.

Store hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 7 p.m. on Sundays.



