Adult-use marijuana sales come to Bangor

Recreational marijuana sales began Monday in the small city of Bangor, where it didn’t appear to be such a big deal.

Management at the Green Door said there were about 30 people in line when the business opened at 9 a.m., but otherwise customer traffic was flowing through the store smoothly, without long lines.

The Green Door wasn’t in a rush to start selling adult-use marijuana, which is perhaps one reason why customers didn’t have to rush to buy it.

“We decided not to open until we had a sustainable inventory, and it took me about a month to get that. We did not want to open for a few days and then have to put a sign out front that we’re out of stock, have people drive a long way only to get a very small amount,” the Green Door’s Mark Smith said.

The store opened Monday with a 7-gram limit on the purchase of recreational flower — three and a half times more than the 2-gram limit imposed when recreational sales came to Niles.

“We’re able to do that because we grow our own. We don’t have any outside flower in the shop,” Smith said. “Right now we’re growing about 50 pounds every three weeks.”

Andrea McElvain came to the Green Door from Kalamazoo, where she said there are currently no stores selling adult-use marijuana.

Niki Juriga came from Lawrence, Michigan.

“A first timer, yes," she said. "It kind of feels like Christmas morning. You go in and you want to just buy a little bit of everything.”

The Green Door will be open from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. through the rest of this week.

Smith says he expects that recreational marijuana sales will eventually make up 60% of his business, saying there are 314,000 medical card holders and 6 million Michigan residents.

The Green Door is the second licensed recreational marijuana seller in Van Buren County, along with the Breedsville Dispensary.