Store near the Breadboard at north end of town is owner’s third Spot in Southern Oregon
By Damian Mann for Ashland.news
There’s a new spot in town where Ashland residents can find their favorite cannabis products.
The Spot Cannabis Collective opened June 11 at 800 North Main St., just north of the Breadboard Restaurant in Ashland, offering a range of cannabis goods, such as flower, edibles, dabs and tinctures.
The Spot joins seven other cannabis dispensaries in town. The closest, Nectar is several blocks to the south.
“Even though there are a lot of stores out there, they don’t bring the value to people,” said Sean Clark, owner of the Spot.
He said his store focuses on bringing “really good pricing for the community.”
This is the third location for The Spot, with others in south Medford on Center Drive across the street from Walmart, and in north Medford on Crater Lake Highway near Guitar Center.
The Crater Lake store was the first Spot to open in 2020.
Clark said he likes to locate his stores close to freeway exits, and he anticipates attracting customers from California, where prices for cannabis products are generally higher than in Oregon.
While he expects some tourist traffic, Clark said most of his customers are from the Ashland or Talent areas.
With just over a month after opening, Clark said business has already been good.
“We’re starting to get on the map, primarily through word of mouth,” he said.
The sales floor is on the east side of the building near the railroad tracks, but because of regulations, there are no windows looking out toward the eastern hills of Ashland.
Clark said the Ashland Spot is smaller than the other stores and is located in a relatively older building.
“We really love the city of Ashland, and the Breadboard is something of a local institution,” he said.
The new Ashland location joins some 800 recreational dispensaries in Oregon, with Medford, Eugene, Portland, Salem and Bend hosting the most stores.
Four dispensaries are located along the Highway 99 corridor through Ashland, and four others are located near the Ashland Street exit off Interstate 5.
Clark said the Ashland dispensary will highlight specials from different vendors each week.
The store features many products from Southern Oregon and around the state.
Most of the flower grown outdoors is from Southern Oregon locations because of the drier weather conditions, such as the Applegate.
Top-shelf indoor flower can be produced throughout the state.
“Flower is still very much king as far as aggregate sales go,” Clark said.
Like other cannabis stores in the state, the Spot is primarily a cash business because of federal restrictions on the banking industry.
That could all change in the near future if the federal government reclassifies marijuana, which is currently classified as a Schedule 1 drug, similar to heroin, ecstasy and LSD.
The Biden Administration has directed the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to work on the reclassification.
Even though the federal government continues to recognize marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, 24 states have now legalized it.
Many of the states that have legalized marijuana are located in the West and East, along with four in the Midwest.
Oregon pioneered the decriminalization effort in the U.S.. In 1973, the state made possession of less than an ounce a violation, though possession of more than an ounce remained a felony.
Oregon voters approved medical marijuana in 1998. In 2014, voters approved recreational use of cannabis, and sales began in 2015.
The Spot has an ATM located inside the store that allows customers to use their debit cards to make a purchase.
Clark said there would still be a transaction fee to use the ATM.
Discounts are offered to firefighters, seniors and veterans.
The Spot is located in the former Pacific Rack Outfitters, which moved to 1007 South Pacific Highway, Unit B, in Talent.
Clark said he doesn’t have plans to open any more stores in this area.
“I think we’re happy with three in the Rogue Valley,” he said.
Reach freelance writer Damian Mann at [email protected].
