WILLMAR
— Adult recreational cannabis has been on sale in Willmar for a little more than a week at
RISE Dispensary.

RISE Dispensary, located at 1413 First Street South, has been selling medical cannabis in Willmar for several years and acquired a medical/recreational combination license from the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management on Sept. 15, allowing it to begin selling recreational cannabis.

The
Willmar City Council
approved a retail registration application for RISE Dispensary in early August. Two other adult recreational cannabis retailers received City Council approval for their retail registration application in early September — Hemponix and Mary Jane’s Buds and Edibles.

Jennifer Kotila / West Central Tribune

Hemponix, located at 1425 First Street South, has been selling low-potency THC products in Willmar for several years and Mary Jane’s Buds and Edibles will be a new retailer located in the former Cash Wise Liquor building at 1305 First Street South.

Jennifer Kotila / West Central Tribune

All three cannabis retailers are currently undergoing the process to obtain their conditional use permits from the City of Willmar. Typically, a business must obtain its permit before opening, but the city made an exception for RISE Dispensary, as it already had its state licensure and had been selling medical cannabis for several years.

A public hearing for the conditional use permit for all three retailers will be conducted during the
Willmar Planning Commission
meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8. The meeting takes place in the conference room at Willmar City Hall, 333 Sixth Street Southwest.

The city of Willmar cannot limit the number of medical/recreational combination licensed retailers in the city, but is allowed to restrict the number of adult-use recreational license holders.

Minnesota statute does set a minimum of adult-use recreational retailers based on a city’s population and requires that the city of Willmar allow at least two. Any retailer with a medical/recreational combination license does not count toward that minimum.

When approving the cannabis ordinance, the Willmar City Council placed a maximum of two adult recreational cannabis retailers in the city, meaning Hemponix and Mary Jane’s Buds and Edibles will be the only retailers allowed at this time.

RISE Dispensary’s adult-use recreational cannabis products mirror its medical-use products and include a variety of products such as flower, gummies, pre-rolls, and vapes.

“At RISE, we pride ourselves on creating a welcoming and educational experience and we believe in being good stewards of the community,” a RISE spokesperson told the West Central Tribune in an email. “Our team has been diligently preparing … and is ready to introduce more Minnesotans to the RISE experience, where our guests can expect a curated selection of premium cannabis products.”

Customers must be 21 years of age or older and will need a valid, original form of government identification to enter the store. Acceptable forms of identification include a driver’s license, tribal identification card or a passport.

“The first week has been exciting, with wonderful support from our neighbors in Willmar,” the RISE spokesperson stated.

RISE has been serving medical patients since 2021, employs 370 people and has eight dispensaries throughout Minnesota — Baxter, Brooklyn Park, Eagan, Mankato, New Hope, St. Cloud, St. Paul and Willmar. Its product is locally grown at a manufacturing facility in Cottage Grove.