Howdy-do? Buy my book, Switchers. I dare ya. OK, let’s do this.

What would you do if someone wanted to buy your house so they could sell weed out of it?

Say a guy knocks on your door. You answer it and he says, “Listen, I know this sounds crazy, but I’d like to buy your house.”

“Why?”

“Well…I want to turn it into a weed dispensary?”

“What…?”

Believe it or not, that was a real situation a person was faced with. Fortunately for Grand Rapids, the dude said okay and now we have Pharmhouse Wellness, Grand Rapids first and only locally owned cannabis dispensary.

Going all in on cannabis…

Casey Kornoelje and his wife Megan had a vision for a dispensary. To make it work, they invested their life savings into a house and turned it into Grand Rapid’s only locally owned dispensary. They made it through the pandemic, gave away meals and gifts to the community during the holidays, and recently set up another store in New Buffalo, Michigan. But I’m getting ahead of things.

In this episode, which originally aired February 2022, Casey talked about his upbringing, how he got into business, how he found and bought the house that became the dispo, and how he wanted to start a grow facility to shave the price down for his customers/patients. Since then he has done exactly that and if you visit the store you’ll see a big building next door. That’s where they grow top notch, but discounted, weed.

Listen to the whole story, it’s wild:

Thanks for reading and listening. Check me out on social media @tallonwrites on all platforms. Check out Pharmhouse Wellness and listen to the other Pharmhouse Wellness episodes:

Ep.47 | The Pharmhouse Wellness Art Market: A Podumentary… – A Podcast for Creative People

Pharmhouse Wellness, Grand Rapids, Michigan's only locally owned and operated dispensary, had another art market. Again I sold books and (someone else's (my daugher's!)) art. This time, however, I brought my podcast gear and made a whole thing of it, talking to a little bit of every kind of person around: pot smokers, local celebrities, art enthusiasts, art vendors, budtenders, and one of the event organizers. And Mike Logan did a great read of the back of my book Switchers, which I encourage you to read. Your future self will thank you… .   .   . The interviewees are: Mike Logan | IG: @icecoldcomedian  Matt "soon-to-be from GR" Sweda | IG: @mattsweda Frankie | IG: @stolenchapstick K.C. | IG: @kcnextdoo_ & @nailzbykc_ Loyiso "Lou" Matanda | IG: @loyisomatandabey Ashley Nash | IG: @nashleyillustration ; nashleyillustration@gmail.com Kate Lewis | IG: @claykate ; http://www.katelewisceramics.com/shop Dean from BEDROOM CEILINGS | Insta and Facebook @bedroomceilings .   .   . Shout out to my tent sharing artists from the two markets: Los The Artist and Savannah Jade. One more to Michigrown for sponsoring the event and giving away some nice freebies! Hope to see you at the next one August 20, 2022, at Pharmhouse Wellness in Grand Rapids, Michigan!  

-CT

Christopher Tallon is the author of the dark, adventurous, time-travel novel Switchers.

CT’s LINKTREE