BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – After nearly two years with a regulated cannabis market, Vermont now has 81 licensed dispensaries statewide — 12 of them alone are located in Burlington, with another two set to open soon. Many are concentrated downtown, in some cases just feet away from each other. It’s something city and state officials recognize may leave some shops in the weeds.
The Bern Gallery, a glass-blowing and smoke shop on Main Street in Burlington, has been a downtown staple for several decades.
“It’s been a very long journey,” said Tito Bern, the shop’s owner. They added the dispensary when retail cannabis became legal, something Bern thought would be a slow burn. “I thought I would be an old man before I saw this.”
Bern says the dispensary offers a unique customer experience — and a location — that can’t be beat. “Having our footprint here in downtown Burlington was incredibly helpful,” he said.
Just a short walk over to Church Street is the Float On Cannabis Company. “We try to have a real nice vibe,” said the shop’s Mathew Hogg. “We do a lot of tourist activity. We have a lot of regular customers.”
The shop is tucked next to several other dispensaries within eyeshot. “If you want good cannabis, south end of Church Street in Burlington is the place to go and you got several to choose from,” Hogg said.
“I think it’s a totally over-saturated market here, especially downtown,” said Chloe Kunzelman, a University of Vermont student from New Jersey.
“I think there is a lot,” said Ryan Smith, another UVM student from Connecticut.
City officials agree, saying the soon-to-be 14 dispensaries are too many, too soon. “In my opinion, that’s a little bit of a saturation of the market,” said Kara Alnasrawi, the city’s director of business and workforce development.
Even the state’s Cannabis Control Board says it’s problematic. “We do have this unnatural distribution of where they are located,” said board chair James Pepper.
So how did we get to this point of pot proliferation? When retail cannabis became legal, the Legislature gave cities and towns local control. Some municipalities like Burlington voted to allow the new market while others, like nearby South Burlington and Williston, have never voted. “We have an uncapped licensing system which allows greater access to the market, which also does have this downside where we can hit this saturation and the board doesn’t have a lot of control to temper that,” Pepper said.
It’s not just a Burlington pot problem. Over saturation is happening in other Vermont towns, too. “We are seeing pockets of density around the state where other parts of the state have cannabis deserts,” Pepper said. for comparison, he says Burlington has only three liquor stores. “The department of liquor control does an economic analysis before they hand out a new license, whether this store is going to cannibalize this other store. We don’t have that authority.”
Without a cap on the number of dispensaries in the state, Pepper says some will undoubtedly fail. He predicts more towns will take action to limit growth. “We are going to see some more local control take place and some more shifts in the market that are going to result in that,” he said.
But city leaders like Alnasrawi argue they are hamstrung on how many dispensaries are approved, saying it’s not the city’s place. “It would be unprecedented for a municipality to control what types of establishments. As long as an establishment conforms to zoning and ordinance regulations, they are allowed to be open for business,” she said.
Elaine Young, the director of Champlain College’s marketing and communication program, says the prevalence of any one type of business — whether intended or not — sends a message to visitors.” If every other store is a cannabis shop, that starts to change the tone and tenor of what people expect from downtown. while any business is preferable to vacant storefronts, she says it’s the market that will eventually decide which will stay open.
Dispensary owners say they are aware of the competition but remain focused. “I think competition is the best. Competition is what spurs innovation, and I think innovation is the coolest,” Bern said.
“Our numbers are going up every month. So, we are getting more of the pie or the pie is getting bigger. I don’t know which is which,” Hogg said.
And those numbers could be even bigger without state laws restricting how dispensaries run ads and promotions. The rules are intended to protect underage Vermonters, but industry officials have so far been unsuccessful in getting lawmakers to modify them.
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