Green Thumb Industries, Inc. (CSE: GTII) (OTCQX: GTBIF) Finds Expanding Base for Cannabis Retail with Community-centered Vision

October 19, 2021 12:46:17
  • Green Thumb Industries is a cannabis cultivator, processor, and dispensary operator, with a growing base of operations nationwide that is founded on a vision of forming deep connections to the communities the company’s dispensaries serve
  • Green Thumb is headquartered in Chicago and recently announced its 65th store, which will be its third retail outlet in New Jersey
  • The company now operates in 14 states with 14 cannabis cultivation and manufacturing facilities
  • Green Thumb’s Q2 filing reported an 85.4 percent YOY increase in revenues and its sixth consecutive quarter of positive cash flow from operations
Cannabis cultivator and retailer Green Thumb Industries (CSE: GTII) (OTCQX: GTBIF), a company with a well-rounded suite of nationally branded products designed for safe, responsible adult use, is aggressively expanding its footprint. The company’s Q2 filing in August reported that revenues had risen 85.4 percent YOY to $221.9 million, a sequential increase of 14.1 percent, with its sixth consecutive quarter of positive cash flow from operations. Adjusted Operating EBITDA grew 11.1 percent sequentially and more than doubled from the same period last year to $79.3 million (https://cnw.fm/MF7BF). InvestorBrandNetwork (“IBN”) spoke with Green Thumb Board of Directors member Wendy Berger, who noted that Green Thumb recently announced its 65th retail location — its third in the state of New Jersey — and that the company currently has operations in 14 states, with 14 cultivation and manufacturing facilities. “Everybody knows it is still very difficult to raise money in this business, even for companies like Green Thumb. And without institutional investors, you really have to work harder to identify investors,” Berger told IBN. “We think we have done a great job of speaking a language that investors really can understand and telling the story of Green Thumb in a way that is financially responsible.” The company’s dispensaries operate under the trademarked brand Rise, distributing a portfolio of branded cannabis products including Beboe, Dogwalkers, Dr. Solomon’s, incredibles, Rhythm, and The Feel Collection. Green Thumb holds more than 30 additional licenses for future retail locations across its markets as it begins to seek out a larger clientele. “In the very early days, our strategy was, contrary to many of our competitors, we chose secondary and tertiary markets, and the advantage there was to be the only one,” Berger said. “In places like Erie, Pennsylvania, (we) left people scratching their heads saying, ‘Why wouldn’t they go to Philadelphia first?’ And when we looked around at Erie, we were the only dispensary within a 70-mile radius. We have always been a company that prides ourselves on being a part of a community and being deeply connected and involved in the community and that’s much easier to do and we can be more impactful when we are in smaller communities.” Green Thumb is now headquartered in Chicago, but began in a much smaller location about 30 miles to the northwest. “Our very first store ever was in a town called Mundelein, Illinois. Which I am guessing you have never heard of,” Berger told IBN. “It is one of the top performing stores in all of Illinois, and it is not in downtown Chicago. We have an incredibly loyal customer base. We are deeply entrenched in the community, and people keep coming back.” On October 16, Green Thumb hosted a grand reopening of its Rise Mundelein store, with the town’s mayor in attendance, celebrating the store’s expansion after six years in business. “Rise Mundelein has been an important part of the Green Thumb story since opening as Illinois’ first medical dispensary in 2015. On January 1, 2020, we were one of the first stores in the state to serve adult-use consumers,” Green Thumb Founder and CEO Ben Kovler stated in a news release about the event (https://cnw.fm/kvNHc). “Americans are overwhelmingly choosing cannabis for well-being and we look forward to enhancing our patient and customer experience at Rise Mundelein for today and the future.” And Green Thumb is embracing the opportunity to provide education on the benefits of cannabis as the plant’s stigma begins to fade in society. “We want to be on the corner of Main and Main. We want to be more (of what) Starbucks wants to be,” Berger said. “I think that there is still often a sort of this dismissal that we (in the cannabis industry) are not sophisticated operators when in fact we really are, and the proof of that is that we are drawing people from other industries into this business who bring with them their expertise.” For more information, visit the company’s website at www.GTIGrows.com. 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