LOWELL, MI -- Kent County’s first recreational marijuana shop is just a couple months from opening, according to its owners.

Scott Schroeder and Michael Atkins, the founders and owners of Meds Cafe, are currently gutting the recently closed Family Video at 1965 W. Main St. with plans to quickly build it out into a full-service recreational pot shop.

The pair have state pre-qualification for the project but are working through permitting and licensing with Lowell officials. The pair are eyeing a January 2020 opening.

“We should fly through it; we’ve done it before,” Atkins said.

Lowell City Manager Michael Burns said Meds Cafe is probably the furthest along out of the five or so groups that have inquired about setting up shops in the city.

If the pair turn the city’s zoning and regulatory applications around quickly, they could go before the planning commission for approval in January, Burns said. After that, Meds Cafe will need a final sign-off from the state, which Atkins estimates would take a week.

Lowell is one of a handful of cities in West Michigan allowing recreational marijuana. The only other city in Kent County currently allowing recreational marijuana facilities is Grand Rapids, and city leaders won’t be considering applications for recreational marijuana shops until at least April 2020.

Atkins and Schroeder plan to pack the Lowell store shelves with a variety of marijuana products, from various strains of the bud itself to edibles and oils and transdermal patches and lotions, among others.

“If a customer requests something and we’re able to get it, we’ll get it,” Schroeder said. “And if it catches on in the store, we’ll keep it.”

Schroeder estimated Meds Cafe - Lowell will serve about 100 people a day, and that’s not including deliveries.

“People that are consumers of marijuana are going to drive around, they’re going to look at the reviews, look at the strains and if you have good product, they’re going to come,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter where you’re at, they’re going to come. Realistically, we’re going to service probably the whole southern part of Michigan, really.”

Meds Cafe will be able to deliver to residents in surrounding areas so long as the recipient is 21 and the delivery vehicle is back before end of business, according to Schroeder.

The Lowell dispensary will be the second for Atkins and Schroeder. The first, a medical marijuana shop located in Rogers Township near Rogers City in northern Michigan, opened in April.

Rogers City is where Schroeder calls home and Atkins grew up. Nearly 200 miles away, Lowell was chosen because it’s a second hometown for Atkins, who lives in nearby Ada Township with his wife and newborn.

“Lowell is where my kids are going to be going to school. It's where my kids are going to grow up,” he said. “I want to put money into this town.”

Meds Cafe this year donated a few hundred dollars worth of school supplies to Roger City’s elementary and high schools, and a swing to one of the parks, according to Atkins.

“We want to do the same giveback to the community -- host charity events, give to the schools, give to the parks,” he said.

Schroeder, who owns a restaurant in Rogers City, said he wants to pay Meds Cafe workers a livable wage with pay starting between $12 and $14 an hour and going up to between $16 and $20 an hour.

The Lowell shop will be staffed by eight to 14 employees, he estimated.

Schroeder and Atkins started their partnership about three years ago. They were connected through family, and each had personal connections to medical marijuana and an interest in the industry.

Schroeder is open about his marijuana use and his battle with alcoholism. He credits marijuana with helping him keep nine years sober.

“Ten years ago I was pretty much an unemployable alcoholic. Ten years today I own multiple businesses,” he said. “It’s cut and dry. I can either choose to live or choose to drink.”

Atkins’ brother suffered from multiple seizures every day until he was given cannabis oil. Within a week, the seizures stopped, Atkins said.

“It got him off medication that was killing his liver,” he said. “I don’t even smoke, but I see the benefits, so I’m all about it.”

Atkins and Schroeder have plans for a marijuana growing operation in Rogers Township and further marijuana dispensaries in Manistee and other communities.