Get ready for the next wave of medical marijuana dispensaries to open in the region – including the first shop in Philadelphia.
Restore Integrative Wellness Center on May 2 hosted a grand opening event for its dispensary in Fishtown. The 5,000-square-foot shop on Frankford Avenue – in a renovated building that dates back to the 1870s, and was previously a welding shop – will open for business this month.
The dispensary is the first to be opened by Restore, which is led by co-owner Steven O, the owner and operator of Reboot Integrative Wellness Center. Reboot has offices in Chinatown and Elkins Park. Other Restore owners include Vipul Patel, the company’s COO and Marketing Director Dimple Thakrar.
Jonathan Monk, a spokesman for Restore, said finding a location for a medical marijuana dispensary in Philadelphia was a challenge because of city regulations that prohibit such facilities within 500 yards of a school, day care center or public facility.
“There are not many locations in the city that fit that description,” Monk said. “The best area is an industrial center. Fishtown was a good choice because Fishtown is cool. The people here are receptive to something like this.”
Restore expects to open its second site in Elkins Park later this year. It has not yet decided on a site for its third dispensary allowed under its permit, Monk said.
Last week, Montgomery County got its first dispensary when TerraVida Holistic Centers opened a site at 1626 Old York Road in Abington. TerraVida opened a dispensary in Sellersville earlier this year. Co-owners of the Abington dispensary, Chris Visco and Adina Birnbaum, hold the distinction of having the only woman-owned medical marijuana dispensary in Pennsylvania.
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