After five years in operation, Main Street Marijuana has achieved a longtime goal: The Uptown Village cannabis shop is now the owner of its own building — or at least, two-thirds of it.

The 1922 building is divided into three suites. In late July, Main Street Marijuana purchased the two suites that together house the shop’s 2,500-square-foot show floor and customer area. The third suite, which houses offices and some product stock, is still rented under a long-term lease with a different landlord.

The show-floor purchase cost $1.4 million, according to Clark County records, and it represents a major milestone for Main Street Marijuana. Co-owner Adam Hamide said it was a difficult but necessary step to pull off.

“It’s a long-term play for the business,” he said.

Logistics of the purchase

Cannabis retail is well-known as a cash-only business due to marijuana’s status as a federal controlled substance, so the idea of a cannabis shop purchasing its own building calls to mind an image of $1.4 million in literal cash changing hands.

The reality isn’t quite so dramatic, Hamide said. Cannabis retailers can’t access credit card services and can’t open accounts at big national banks, but Washington retailers do have access to banking services through a handful of local banks and credit unions, and they can cut checks for property transactions.