After strong first weekend, Missouri’s recreational marijuana sellers are planning ahead

In the first weekend of recreational cannabis sales in the state, Missourians spent more than $12 million on both recreational and medical products. The strong sales were despite many operators being caught by surprise; the opening of recreational sales came a few days earlier than expected.

Now, business owners are looking to the future of the industry in Missouri, and that’s not just happening in the biggest cities.

Brooke Foster was one CEO who was preparing to begin recreational sales on Monday but was caught off guard when the state gave the go-ahead to start selling Friday.

Foster is the CEO of COCO, which has a lab in Clarence, Missouri, and dispensaries in Chillicothe, Hannibal and Moberly. Her dispensaries essentially did a “soft open,” without advertising, on Friday and Saturday. Still, the business sold about 2½ times what it normally does on those days. And she said many people visited the dispensaries from other states.

“When I pulled into the parking lot, there was one Missouri car and all the rest were from out of state,” she said.

Foster runs the business with her son, who graduated from the University of Missouri and has a background in plant science. She sees this industry as a way to keep people like him in parts of Missouri that are losing young people.

[Read more at St. Louis Public Radio]