Recreational marijuana sales start in Battle Creek

The atmosphere inside Battle Creek Provisioning Center was no different Monday morning from what it had been in the weeks prior.

The same music played from its speakers. The same budtenders worked with customers, explaining products and educating them on what best fit their needs.

But there was a big difference: The shop, located at 2245 W Columbia Ave. in Battle Creek, had started selling recreational marijuana.

It's the first Battle Creek establishment to do so.

"It feels great to get past all the licenses and be able to service Battle Creek," said Tommy Nafso, general council for Battle Creek Provisioning Center. "We're ready for people to stop on in and try our products."

Nafso said the dispensary's employees underwent extensive retraining in order to know how to properly interact with adult-use recreational customers versus the medical patients they've been serving.

Carlos Garrido, store manager, said their sales have been strong, and they had even sold out of some products.

"It's been really great to see," he said. "Our budtenders are very well educated and are doing a great job with our clients."

Garrido said the store is now split into two sections: medical and recreational. Customers wait in a lobby, then a budtender will grab them and take them to either the medical or recreational part of the store and discuss possible products.

Shane Phillips was one of the first customers to buy recreational marijuana from the store. He lives in Wisconsin, which does not have recreational marijuana, but he is in town visiting family, so he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.

"We don't have it in Wisconsin, so I haven't got to experience this," he said. "It's cool to see how it is all laid out and set up."

Battle Creek Provisioning Center's parent company, Green Skies, has several adult-use recreational dispensaries throughout Michigan. Nafso said this has helped the business transition.

"We feel we have a great understanding of the regulatory framework, which has helped us move through this process in a timely manner."

Hunter Jacks, budtender at Battle Creek Provisioning Center, helped work at Green Skies' dispensaries in Ann Arbor, which had lines out the door on its opening day. He believes Battle Creek will see similar traffic once word gets around.

"It was crazy there," he said. "It's awesome to see all that interest. It'll happen here too. More people just need to hear about it."

Nafso said the employees are prepared to work with customers who have limited to no experience with marijuana.

"We understand there are going to be people who have consumed very little or might have never consumed marijuana," he said. "Our staff is trained for that. We have a customer-focused environment and a full education plan for customers like that."

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Contact Brooks Hepp at (269) 223-0114 or bhepp@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrooksHepp