Revenge is on the evil witches mind, so Dorothy wants out and is on her way to the Emerald City, to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz. Along the way she is joined by a motley crew composed of a rusted out oilcan of a tinman; a non-fire retardant scarecrow; a lion afraid of his own shadow and a group of flying monkeys that could pass for a posse of feral Federal DEA agents. weGrow is a growing franchise, and is to hydroponics what Iowa is to corn. Recently Kush Magazine had the opportunity to speak at length with Dhar Mann, founder of weGrow about the company, the current state of affairs and the future of marijuana legalization and acceptance into the mainstream of society. So, get ready to click your ruby red slippers, if you have some (go ahead admit you do, I won't tell a soul) we're off to see the wizard,the wonderful weGrow wizard of Oz...just follow the yellow kush road to the land of weGrow..it's a kick grass business!
Kush: Why are the weGrow Stores referred to as the Walmart of Weed? Is that a phrase that was developed in-house?
Mann:The day before our first grand opening, on January 27, 2010, a San Francisco Chronicle reporter came to our store for our first media interview. The next morning, at 6AM, our current Vice President of Operations, Justin Jorgensen, was inside our store with our newly delivered inventory, and called me to say three white, non-descript vans just pulled up outside the Oakland weGrow. When you have hundreds of thousands of inventory sitting in an East Oakland warehouse, and three white vans pull up- you call the police. As I raced over to the store, cop cars pulled up surrounding the vans- I jumped out of my car racing towards the scene- and the sliding doors of the vans opened- with camera crews and bright lights shining behind them. They were news crews. It turned out that at 12:01AM, the SF Chronicle ran a feature story saying the "Walmart of Weed" opens for business today. It was an unanticipated marketing vehicle that created a buzz around the world. For the media, it was the easiest 3-words-or-less way to describe weGrow. We chose to embrace the analogy as it describes the vastness, accessibility and affordability weGrow seeks to provide patients. The analogy is far from perfect, as our foundation stems from patient support and education, but it plants the seed as to what weGrow is like for people fairly quickly.
Kush:When were the seeds first planted to open a chain of weGrow Superstores and how long did it take from concept to the opening of the first bricks and mortar location?
Mann:After years of dealing with chronic shoulder and neck pain, and refusing to rely on pharmaceuticals, I became a cannabis patient in California in October of 2009. Right away I knew I wanted to grow my own cannabis to control what I put into my plants, so I decided to start by visiting a local hydroponics store. I walked in with a pocket full of cash, ready to make a purchase, and just for mentioning the word "Cannabis" I was ejected from the store. After doing some research, I realized that even though growing cannabis was legal in California, in order to buy any of your grow equipment you had to pretend you were growing tomatoes. But I wasn't spending thousands of dollars on a system to grow tomatoes, and neither was anyone else in the store it seemed. It felt hypocritical to have to lie to the person I was giving all this money to use the products for what seemingly everyone else in the store was using them for, including the storeowner himself. From that point I dedicated myself to starting the first hydroponic store that would openly help medical marijuana patients and teach them the best practices for growing the plant safely and responsibly. That experience seeded our slogans "There's no such thing as a $10,000.00 tomato", "Don't do business with a hydrocrite" and finally "The First Honest Hydro Store." Medical cannabis patients should not have to hide in the dark about their medicine. It’s unfair for businesses to make money off cannabis patients but then turn their backs on them when it comes to supporting patients for growing medical cannabis responsibly. There are companies that are making tens of millions of dollars from medical cannabis patients and they pretend that their products are used for growing tomatoes and not helping the patients that are making them rich. A lack of support and education not only leads to unsafe cultivation practices that unfairly puts a patient’s safety at risk, but it pushes our industry deeper into the shadows.
Ironically, the idea that there was a hydroponics store that helps medical cannabis patients was big news, and from the day of our grand opening we received thousands of emails from people wanting to be a part of not just our store, but our movement. It was more requests to franchise rather than a decision to franchise that got the idea rolling. On the first day we put a franchise link on our website, we received 72 franchise applications alone.
Kush:Were there any legal problems or issues along the way prior to opening that had to be dealt with? Did people understand the full concept or were there initial misgivings on their part? (City Councils, County Commissioners, Zoning ordinances, etc.)
Mann:Fortunately, we have been blessed with a lot of community support for our weGrow locations. Since our business does not sell any marijuana itself, on the surface we're no different than a retail gardening store. I anticipated misperceptions about our business model before our very first opening, so I reached out to all of the local leaders in the area. At our ribbon cutting we had not only hundreds of community members present but even 4 City Councilmembers and other well-known leaders. That made a big statement. It's our protocol to engage our neighbors and inform them of our business. Instead of waiting for the Police Department and Fire Department to pay a visit we voluntarily invite them to inspect our facility days before grand opening. We join our local chambers. We do charity drives and support non-profits. We support local businesses by advertising in local papers and choosing local vendors. By following these good business practices and engaging our local community, we are able to transform what may be perceived by some as a social taboo into an asset for society. Regardless of personal views, once even naysayers understand that we don't create the medical marijuana economy but rather help make it safer and more responsible for patients and their surrounding neighbors, it's hard not to support us. And now, as a franchisor, we have been able to take our experiences to assist franchisees with their openings, and fortunately every one seems to be bigger and better than the last.
Kush:What is the actual mission statement of weGrow? Mann:The mission of weGrow is to be the leading hydroponic retailer in the world. We want to provide medical marijuana cultivators all of the support that they need to safely grow cannabis for medical use.
Kush:How many locations currently are open, (states, cities) and what are your targets for the remainder of 2011?
Mann:As of July 2011, we have a distribution center in Oakland, a franchise store in Sacramento and a franchise store in Phoenix. We recently obtained an approval that allows us to franchise in 38 states across the country, and within a few weeks we’ve sold out all franchise rights in Arizona, New Mexico, Washington D.C. and Delaware, as well as numerous counties across the states. We are projecting that by the end of 2011, weGrow will have five retail locations in four states, and by 2012, we’ll have 30 stores in eight states.
Kush:How many persons are currently employed overall by weGrow, service, retail, advertising, etc. It has to be an economic boost in any community you open up in. Sales tax, employee wages, etc.
Mann:With our 3 locations weGrow directly employs more than 30 people, and has indirectly created hundreds of jobs through ancillary services such as doctors, attorneys, designers, contractors, security consultants, advertisers, realtors, event coordinators, project managers, bankers, etc. In every market that weGrow enters, approximately 10 new direct jobs are created for people of all levels. One store can easily produce six figures annually in sales tax dollars alone for local government. These dollars are all turned over several times to exponentially boost economic activity in local communities. In addition to helping the economy through job creation and sales tax, we also are in the midst of launching our corporate giving program called “weGive.” The program allocates funding for helping non-profit causes on a local and national level.
Kush:Are franchises available, where, and what is the process a potential franchise owner has to go through before approval?
Mann:We are accepting franchise applications from across the country in 38 states plus Washington DC. Franchise applications have poured in from across the world. We very recently just received our 1,000th franchise application. While we do not have plans to open weGrow stores in states that have not yet approved medical marijuana legislation, an interested franchisee can purchase the rights to open weGrow stores in non-medical states in anticipation of future legalization. With the growth potential of the marijuana industry the way it is, and with weGrow selling out rights to open stores in certain markets, just owning the exclusive rights to open stores in strategic markets has become an asset that we're seeing franchisees buying and selling for a profit. A lot of people recognize the value of getting in on the ground floor of this movement. A prospective franchisee must be 21 years of age, must have no bankruptcies within the last five years, have access to at least $166,000 in capital and most importantly, wants to help cannabis patients. We're not interested in working with individuals only interested in profits and not the patients. We're being extremely selective of our first franchisees. We want to make sure that initial franchisees are not just attractive on paper but intimately understand and believe in our brand. I spend a lot of time with our franchisees- and if you talk to them they're just as if not more excited about the potential of weGrow than I even am.
Kush:What is the Liberty Bell Ball and what is We Grows involvement?
Mann:The Liberty Bell Ball is a fundraiser for the Marijuana Policy Project hosted at the Playboy Mansion. The specific goal of the event is to raise money for marijuana law reform. weGrow participated at the event earlier this month as a sponsor, and we also had quite a few members from the weGrow team in attendance to support the cause. It is the responsibility of every medical marijuana-related business (actually I should expand this to say anyone who profits from medical cannabis patients since sadly there's a difference) to help protect patients rights by supporting marijuana law reform.
Kush :Do you feel at some point in the not so distant future, full legalization of marijuana will be realized? If so, will that be a green leafy boom for We Grow and perhaps competitors will spring up. MacDonalds vs Burger King...weGrow vs...????
Mann:I believe that the end of federal marijuana prohibition is closer than ever considering 16 states plus DC have already legalized medical cannabis. weGrow is helping to drive the legalization effort by by supporting causes such as the National Cannabis Industry Association, by changing the perception of the industry through upstanding representation and ultimately making cannabis cultivation safer and more responsible for communities. Legalization is a win-win for advocates and businesses: the lower the barriers are to cultivating cannabis and the more markets that open up blooms new opportunities for weGrow stores.
In regards to competition– it's sad how cutthroat an industry built on compassion has become. It would be in the best interest of all patients if other hydroponic stores came out of the shadows and openly embraced the true interests and needs of their medical cannabis patient customers. We see ourselves not only as a business but as a movement, and we need to work together to push the envelope. There are much bigger challenges in our industry than competitors. A true leader doesn't create followers, he or she creates more leaders. And at the end of the day, everyone on my team knows that the person to beat is ourselves- every day we have to be a little bit better than yesterday, so regardless of what the future holds, it will always be weGrow vs. weGrow.
For more information on weGrow, their products and/or franchising opportunities, please visit their website at www.wegrowstore.com and ...go with the Grow!