On January 31, Gage Cannabis Co. opened Cookies, a new flagship cannabis provisioning center in the heart of Detroit, with a mammoth blue street party on 8 Mile Road.
Based in the Bay Area, Cookies’ Founder and CEO Berner is a prolific rapper and entrepreneur along with his partner, Jigga, a highly respected cannabis cultivator and breeder. Cookies will be offered as medical marijuana only, since Detroit has not yet approved recreational marijuana.
In an interview with Editor Mike Brennan, Berner – Gilbert Anthony Milam Jr. – explained why he decided to work with Gage in Michigan to offer his cannabis.
“Michigan is one of most important markets in the marijuana business,” he said. “People here are very knowledgeable about herb for some time. They know the different strains.”
Berner said Gage is a very good operator. He’s been vetting Gage for years, he said. The results show that Gage fit every aspect of what he was looking for, including location, good operators and quality of product. He also expects that the same products sold in California will be sold in Michigan.
The 3,500 square-foot Cookies store employs 40 Detroiters with good paying jobs and benefits. Gage also has in place a social equity program through which it will share $950,000 with social equity participants in cities disproportionately impacted by marijuana prohibition.
The company plans to give up to $50,000 to a prospective cannabis business owner in each of the 19 social equity cities initially designated by the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency. The Detroit award recipient has yet to be selected.
In addition to the new Cookies provisioning center, Gage will dedicate significant shelf space to the display and sale of Cookies products in their current locations in Ferndale and Adrian, as well as its soon-to-open locations in Lansing, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Bay City, Grand Rapids, Traverse City, Centerline, among others.
Berner predicts word-of-mouth will be the biggest way Cookies will build its brand in Michigan.
“There a good amount of people having a good time and they are excited to try our flavors,” he said. But he also said Cookies is different from recreational marijuana.
Read More at source: Benzinga