Golden’s dispensary count has just doubled, from one to two stores.
Igadi, a retail marijuana chain with roots in the Colorado mountains, opened a recreational pot shop on May 8 at 791 Pine Ridge Road in Golden. It’s Igadi’s tenth location since the company’s first store opened in Tabernash eight years ago, and it’s Golden’s second dispensary since voters there approved recreational marijuana sales.
“This is an area that really needed it. People who lived here had to drive a really long distance to get access to cannabis. That was reflected in our soft opening. This was one of the best openings we’ve ever had,” Igadi co-owner David Michel says. “I think it shows the pent-up demand.”
In Colorado, local governments or voters must approve commercial marijuana activities before businesses can open within their borders. Golden City Council put a moratorium on all new dispensaries in 2014, allowing the town’s lone medical marijuana dispensary to remain open, and the topic of legal recreational sales wasn’t broached again until last year, when voters approved a total of four recreational dispensaries in town.
Only five businesses applied for those licenses. Golden’s grandfathered-in medical dispensary, now named Verts Neighborhood Dispensary, received one of those four recreational