Cannabis shops practice in-store social distancing, limit customers inside during outbreak
Story has been updated.
Washington’s cannabis retailers are continuing operations, but store owners are having to adjust to the rapidly changing retail landscape amid the coronavirus outbreak.
On Monday, Rick Garza, agency director for Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board, sent an industry-wide email stating that amid the sweeping new restrictions and closures for restaurants and bars in the state, “marijuana retailers are not required to close at this time.”
By Tuesday, Garza had updated guidelines for the shops, with new rules for curbside service for qualified medical patients and designated providers.
“...To promote social distancing for qualified patients, the LCB is temporarily allowing cannabis retailers to sell to qualifying patients or their designated providers outside of their business but within the licensed property line. This is the same allowance provided to approved alcohol licensees during this time,” according to the guidelines.
Drive-thru windows are not allowed, the advisory noted, and both patients and designated providers must be entered in the state Department of Health medical marijuana authorization database and have valid recognition cards.
LCB noted it also was “actively exploring deferment of taxes and fees to ease the payment obligations on licensees that sell alcohol or cannabis.”
Many stores already offer online ordering for pickup, which helps to limit the amount of in-person interaction.
Mary Mart, 3002 6th Ave. in Tacoma, has sent texts and created social media posts to alert customers to what steps it has taken, including limiting how many individuals are in the store at one time and requiring social distancing.
“Our business is similar to regular grocery stores,” Damien McDivitt, owner of Mary Mart, told The News Tribune on Tuesday. “People are stocking up.
“If we can get past this wave of people thinking they need to stock up and get back to normal purchasing, the suppliers are doing all they can.”
He said a sign was placed outside the store alerting customers of the in-store person limit and social distancing, with a worker also at the door to limit the number of people allowed in at any one time.
“We have a really close relationship with a lot of our customers, so we’ve requested things like holding off on the high-fives and hugs in greetings,” he said. “We’re not anticipating any kind of closure.
“And we want to stay open as long as it is safe, and we do have a wide customer base, a lot of people who get their medicine here, ex-military, PTSD, cancer ...
“We’re like Bartell’s, we serve a broad community.”
He noted he’d received emails from vendors telling him how they were keeping their own operations clean and sanitized.
“A lot of vendors are expressing their intent to drop products, collect money and leave,” which he noted is a culture shift. “They normally like to hang out and visit, but they are trying to model best practices, maintaining as little time here as possible.”
His advice to customers: Stay calm.
“We’re just like any other store. You don’t need to go out and buy everything. Take a breather.”
UPDATE, March 18: New guidance was issued Wednesday by the LCB for cannabis shops in light of statewide retail rules to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak. Those include:
▪ Older adults and individuals with underlying medical conditions that are at increased risk of serious COVID-19 are encouraged not to attend (including employees).
▪ Social distancing recommendations must be met (i.e., limit contact of people within 6 feet from each other for 10 minutes or longer).
▪ Employees must be screened for coronavirus symptoms each day and excluded if symptomatic.
▪ Proper hand hygiene and sanitation must be readily available to all attendees and employees.
▪ Environmental cleaning guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are followed (for example: clean and disinfect high touch surfaces daily or more frequently).
This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 5:05 AM.
