Supply problems delay Lake Stevens weed shop

LAKE STEVENS — Denise Evans is getting ready to open the city’s first recreational pot shop.

She hopes to start selling marijuana at Cannablyss, located at 2705 Hartford Dr., by the end of September.

Her state marijuana license was approved Aug. 21. Evans decided to postpone opening until she had an affordable supply of marijuana.

“That’s the hardest thing right now,” she said. “You can be licensed but unable to open due to lack of supply.”

She hopes to start selling Sept. 24, but the date’s dependant on her producer’s harvest.

“I don’t want to have to charge my customers exorbitant prices,” Evans said. “I’m willing to wait as long as I need to.”

She and her husband own the shop. The staff consists of the couple and their three adult children. They plan to be open from 10 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, and from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Evans turned in her application for a marijuana license an hour before the state’s 5 p.m. deadline on Dec. 20.

“It was just kind of a spur of the moment thing,” she said.

She learned in May that she would be receiving a state license. Then she started doing research.

“A year and a half ago I didn’t know that the word cannabis meant marijuana,” she said. “Someone said something about cannabis candy, and I thought they said banana candy.”

She wants to share what she has learned since then. Evans plans to host an open house at Cannablyss for local police, firefighters and the Lake Stevens City Council.

“They can see what we’re doing here and if they want to meet me and ask questions, they can,” she said.

The city council passed an ordinance in February that regulates recreational pot shops within city limits. They are allowed in commercial and industrial zones but must be at least 1,000 feet away from schools, playgrounds, daycares, parks, transit centers, libraries, arcades and other marijuana shops.

No other marijuana shops have been licensed in Lake Stevens.