CRIPPLE CREEK • The first marijuana dispensary in Teller County opened its doors last week.
The owners of High Stakes Leafery in Cripple Creek said they made more than $12,000 in sales in their first two days of opening and had more than 150 customers.
Laura and Robert Smith have owned multiple businesses in Cripple Creek.
“So my husband and I owned and ran the automotive shop here in town for about eight years, and recently sold that at the beginning of the year. We had a day spa here, but we also heard that Bronco Billy’s was opening up a spa, and so we didn’t want to compete with them,” Laura Smith said.
Unsure what their next business adventure would be, the Smiths thought about making the spa into an auto parts store. But Robert Smith had a more adventurous idea.
“All of a sudden, Robert came up to me one day,” Laura Smith said. “He goes, ‘what do you think about putting a dispensary in here?’ I said ‘um.’ Then I thought about it and I said OK, let’s do it.”
She said around eight months ago she and her husband began transforming what was once a spa into the first dispensary in Teller County.
“What I know now, I might have turned back on that idea, but we pushed through and the city was learning with us,” Laura Smith said.
She said opening the first medical and recreational dispensary in the county was a long and difficult process.
“The city really worked hard with us within the legalities of what they had to do, but it was definitely a learning experience for all of us, which made it kind of a little bit of a roller-coaster ride, but we got ‘er done,” Laura Smith said.
Laura Smith said it has been easier finding employees for the cannabis shop than it was for the spa.
“We actually have just an overflow of applications, so that’s nice. We’re not struggling to find employees. That’s kind of a nice problem to have,” Laura Smith said.
One of those employees is Paul Richardson, who is the general manager at High Stakes Leafery.
“I started off as a commercial grower, from then I went to a retail side of the business both in medical Colorado Springs and retail in Manitou Springs,” Richardson said.
Richardson said this job is his dream job.
“A lot of it is educating our customers. A lot of them will come in and say they have a headache and I offer solutions on how to take care of it,” Richardson said.
He said while working at a dispensary in Manitou Springs, many customers were from Teller County.
“I had a lot of guests coming down from Teller County, Florissant, Cripple Creek and Woodland Park,” Richardson said.
He believes having a dispensary in town will limit illegal use of cannabis.
“Our whole idea on this is to get the black market out of Cripple Creek and out of Teller County,” Richardson said.
Laura Smith said on its opening day, High Stakes Leafery generated over $1,600 in sales tax revenue.
“It keeps our tax dollars here instead of benefiting Manitou or Pueblo,” Laura Smith said.
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