AURORA | If it weren’t for the bundles of drying buds dangling in the southwest corner, you might think the space was a scaled back version of the Apple store. Maybe a tiny Hollister Co. outpost. A grown-up Banana Republic? Something like that.
Retail comparisons aside, one thing is clear about Good Chemistry’s newest outlet off of East Iliff Avenue and South Buckley Road in Aurora: It doesn’t feel like a recreational pot shop.
No barred windows. No janky intercom system. No bank teller, bulletproof window through which you have to pass your ID.
“It’s definitely different,” said Robin Peterson, manager of the Aurora Marijuana Enforcement Division.
That was the overwhelming sentiment at the grand opening of Aurora’s newest pot shop on April 9. Dozens of local community leaders milled about and touted the uber modern 3,600-square foot store during a ribbon cutting ceremony that included remarks from Aurora City Coucilman Bob Roth and Aurora Chamber of Commerce President Kevin Hougen.
“We’re excited that you’re doing this the right way from the beginning,” Hougen said. He also made comments comparing Aurora’s pioneering retail marijuana sector to America’s prohibition on alcohol in the 1930s, and that the stigma surrounding pot will dissipate just like it did for booze.
Inside the long-vacant former Blockbuster space, customers ogled the many iPad’s set up throughout the circular retail area and spoke with the some 10 “bud tenders” behind the counters in the store at 16840 E. Iliff Ave.
Owner Matthew Huron, a veteran marijuana cultivator for over 15 years, explained the store’s focus on the feelings associated with different strains of pot instead of the technical jargon found in many other dispensaries.
“One of the things that I realized as pot became legal and started to become normalized, is that there’s a lot of folks out there that might have tried marijuana in college, that are a bit older and a bit intimidated going into a traditional store where it’s all indica, hybrids, sativa, and THC,” Huron said. “I thought what would be a good way to better categorize cannabis and make it more relatable? So essentially that’s how we came up with these four master categories.”
Huron explained that instead of featuring many of the specific strains of bud, the company focuses on four categories, or reasons for marijuana consumption: Sleep, relief, relaxation, and stimulation. There are dozens of sub categories and sub-sub categories under each of the four core classifications.
Huron cut his teeth in the marijuana industry in San Francisco, where he worked in a co-op for over 10 years growing pot that was given to hospice care facilities around the city. He got into the work after seeing the benefits medicinal marijuana had for his father and his father’s partner, who both suffered from HIV/AIDs.
He said that he moved to Colorado for the state’s progressive regulatory structure for recreational pot.
Looking ahead, Huron said that should business go well at the new Aurora location, the company is already is positioned to expand — he also owns an adjacent 3,000-square foot retail unit.
“We’ll see how big it gets,” he said. “We have the opportunity to expand, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Good Chemistry is the ninth pot shop to open its doors in Aurora since the city doled out 23 recreational retail licenses across its six wards last year.