Old Manchester Hemp Co. owner Anthony Mijares with the hemp plants in the company’s indoor growing facility in 2021. (BizSense file)
Another local CBD shop has closed its doors in search of greener, less heavily regulated pastures outside Virginia.
Old Manchester Hemp Co. shuttered its retail storefront and hemp-growing facility at 1308 Hull St. on June 30, the day before new CBD laws took effect in Virginia.
Owner Anthony Mijares said he considered the new regulations too restrictive to continue to operate in the Old Dominion. He’s working on relocating his business to Washington, D.C., which he feels offers a more favorable regulatory environment.
“I felt as a company it was just too difficult for us to stay within the state regulations. We were doing OK. We weren’t making a lot of money but we were doing OK. And I really thought that (the new state regulations) would make our profits dive,” he said. “It’s like any business. It has its ups and downs. You have to pivot and just keep going.”
New state regulations changed the definition of what’s considered legal hemp in Virginia. Hemp products can have no more than 0.3 percent total THC concentration. Products can have no more than 2 milligrams of total THC per package, or have at least 25 times more CBD than total THC per package. In addition to other new rules, the new legislation requires retail businesses to get permits to sell hemp products.
In D.C., Mijares said his plan is essentially to replicate the business model Old Manchester operated in Richmond, which involved both a retail storefront (which was called River City Smoke Shop) and plant cultivation on site.
The shuttered River City Smoke Shop at 1308 Hull St. (Jack Jacobs photo)
In addition to hemp products, the company plans to grow and sell medical marijuana and also add psychedelic mushrooms to its offerings as part of the relocation. D.C. has decriminalized psychedelic mushrooms, and Old Manchester plans to provide the fungi as free gifts with the purchase of other products.
Mijares said on Wednesday that he has his eye on a commercial space, but declined to share the address because the lease hasn’t been finalized. He hopes to reopen the business in Washington before the end of the year.
Mijares also has plans to establish a presence in Medina, Colombia, which is in the central part of the South American country. With a legislative push for legalization underway in Colombia, he wants to get in on the ground floor of a budding legal pot market.
“I loved it out there. The people are nice and it’s a beautiful city,” he said. “I saw the potential.”
He plans to open a store and growing facility in Medina in the middle of next year.
Mijares expects to rebrand the company because of its exit from Manchester, where it originally opened in 2021 with a focus on selling smokable hemp buds and joints.
Mijares plans to continue to run his other locally founded company, Lakeside-based signmaker Signscapes. He also plans to stay on as a board member of Virginia NORML, the state’s chapter of the national cannabis advocacy group.
Old Manchester isn’t the only locally founded business to look out of state for new opportunities in the wake of Virginia’s new regulations. Kultivate Wellness shuttered in Short Pump and opened a new store in North Carolina in response to the new CBD rules in Virginia.
It’s legal for people in Virginia to consume, grow and possess recreational marijuana for personal use. It’s illegal to sell recreational pot. The few government-sanctioned companies in the state’s medical cannabis program are the only legal sellers of medical marijuana in Virginia.
Earlier this year, the General Assembly failed to pass legislation that would have launched a recreational market.
Old Manchester Hemp Co. owner Anthony Mijares with the hemp plants in the company’s indoor growing facility in 2021. (BizSense file)
Another local CBD shop has closed its doors in search of greener, less heavily regulated pastures outside Virginia.
Old Manchester Hemp Co. shuttered its retail storefront and hemp-growing facility at 1308 Hull St. on June 30, the day before new CBD laws took effect in Virginia.
Owner Anthony Mijares said he considered the new regulations too restrictive to continue to operate in the Old Dominion. He’s working on relocating his business to Washington, D.C., which he feels offers a more favorable regulatory environment.
“I felt as a company it was just too difficult for us to stay within the state regulations. We were doing OK. We weren’t making a lot of money but we were doing OK. And I really thought that (the new state regulations) would make our profits dive,” he said. “It’s like any business. It has its ups and downs. You have to pivot and just keep going.”
New state regulations changed the definition of what’s considered legal hemp in Virginia. Hemp products can have no more than 0.3 percent total THC concentration. Products can have no more than 2 milligrams of total THC per package, or have at least 25 times more CBD than total THC per package. In addition to other new rules, the new legislation requires retail businesses to get permits to sell hemp products.
In D.C., Mijares said his plan is essentially to replicate the business model Old Manchester operated in Richmond, which involved both a retail storefront (which was called River City Smoke Shop) and plant cultivation on site.
The shuttered River City Smoke Shop at 1308 Hull St. (Jack Jacobs photo)
In addition to hemp products, the company plans to grow and sell medical marijuana and also add psychedelic mushrooms to its offerings as part of the relocation. D.C. has decriminalized psychedelic mushrooms, and Old Manchester plans to provide the fungi as free gifts with the purchase of other products.
Mijares said on Wednesday that he has his eye on a commercial space, but declined to share the address because the lease hasn’t been finalized. He hopes to reopen the business in Washington before the end of the year.
Mijares also has plans to establish a presence in Medina, Colombia, which is in the central part of the South American country. With a legislative push for legalization underway in Colombia, he wants to get in on the ground floor of a budding legal pot market.
“I loved it out there. The people are nice and it’s a beautiful city,” he said. “I saw the potential.”
He plans to open a store and growing facility in Medina in the middle of next year.
Mijares expects to rebrand the company because of its exit from Manchester, where it originally opened in 2021 with a focus on selling smokable hemp buds and joints.
Mijares plans to continue to run his other locally founded company, Lakeside-based signmaker Signscapes. He also plans to stay on as a board member of Virginia NORML, the state’s chapter of the national cannabis advocacy group.
Old Manchester isn’t the only locally founded business to look out of state for new opportunities in the wake of Virginia’s new regulations. Kultivate Wellness shuttered in Short Pump and opened a new store in North Carolina in response to the new CBD rules in Virginia.
It’s legal for people in Virginia to consume, grow and possess recreational marijuana for personal use. It’s illegal to sell recreational pot. The few government-sanctioned companies in the state’s medical cannabis program are the only legal sellers of medical marijuana in Virginia.
Earlier this year, the General Assembly failed to pass legislation that would have launched a recreational market.
Eventually (hopefully), the damage done by these legalized drugs will be recognized by the majority of society and we will reverse course.
I think this way of thinking about it is too simplistic. First off, research into cannibidoids has been retarded for many decades due to the overly strong stigmas against the plant (much of it during a time when the insecticide-delivering State Crop of VIrginia was being promoted on every TV show and magazine in the USA. Nicotine abuse, along with all the other health issues, has deleterious impacts on brain function; even caffine does, so, if we are to be Mormons about this this issue, it is important to be consistent in order to not be biased. Alcohol is tolerated… Read more »
Shawn- I appreciate your thoughtful, intelligent (and polite) response! Part of me says just remove all the warning labels and let everything sort itself out. Adults can make their own decisions and live with the consequences. I am way more concerned about the affects on our youth during their formative years, though, and mainstreaming pot and psychadelic mushroom use doesn’t seem to be the wisest choice to me.
Thanks! I had no idea I was being polite but maybe I am finally starting to grow up!! I understand the sentiment since I am also frustrated by the way regulations play out and the qui bono aspects often involved — but I am also aware that without regulation we have the Patent Medicine era or worse, generally. Yes, I am also very concerned about the effects on the young brain and I believe studies show damaging long term effects from marijuana use up until quite late — I am generally concerned about ALL psychoactive drugs regarding children — for… Read more »
It’s time for a nap Granny
God all you people think in snarky bumperstickers!!!
The economics of legalizing marijuana for retail sale are complicated. The “government” will receive tax money. Yet the folks that have been selling for many years will be able to undercut the price of the legal weed businesses and most likely offer better products because they won’t be regulated. I’ve seen several startups on Forest Hill Ave shutter their locations – high rents, not enough revenue from CBD, kratom, etc. I wonder if there will be a rise in health related illnesses, such as heart and lung disease due to inhaling marijuana. Will this lead to higher insurance costs for… Read more »
Something to this. I don’t think that smoking MJ is like cigarettes though, and more people now eat it and vape and stuff. Certainly there will also be less heart disease — high nicotine has a bad effect on the CV system as well as the myriad effects of “tar” such as cancers. The black market will only be able to undercut if the price is kept too high, which DOES happen, but I certainly would trust a licenced provider more than a black-market one — no reason to think it would be better from the black market — even… Read more »
The black market helps balance the legal market prices, otherwise we’d have yet another monopoly.
Could be, you probably have a point — but even back in the eighties, they’d put rat poison in acid, and as I say, quality varies.
DC is less complicated with its rules on that stuff. 29% of federal land it is illegal to possess anything product is federal property, they have been going after delivery providers and pushing criminal cases as DC laws require a LOT of bargain trading. DC’s Initiative 71 rules and regulations are not easy to operate under. Good luck!
Virginians voted to legalize. We assumed extra state income from taxes, but there is no tax money without retail sales and younkin’s Christian nationalists will not rest until it’s all overturned and we’re forced back into the dark ages…
When did we have a referendum on legalized weed sales??? I know we voted in 2019 politicians who agreed to stepped decriminalization process but even with a majority in state house, state senate, and Gov’s office at the time they did NOT come up with a plan. The Democrats in charge at the time kicked retail sales down the road in 2020. JLRAC report came out as required in Nov 2020 and still Democrats could not get it together in 2021 session either. Younkin came in Jan 2022. Plenty of blame all around the state capital!
I would prefer Virginia get both the revenue and the tax skim over people buying across state lines or buying from a criminal network.
Don’t worry, I smell and see people smoking in all the loud neighborhoods in Virginia — it’s pretty legal, and it may just increase inequality, since smoking weed is not exactly correlated with productivity or high test scores.
Be careful what you wish for.
Loud neighborhood? Oh Shawn, thank you for being here. How else could I prove to the world how bigoted RVA continues to be.
I was in Virginia beach and on Atlantic Avenue it was loud and smelled like marijuana. Sorry Ashley, this IS the case whether you like it or not — maybe not in all loud neighborhoods, and maybe the smoke is thick in some quiet neighborhoods, but this is my honest observation, not bigotry — you can’t just declare stuff bigotry if you don’t like what they are saying. If you have any info to change my mind, I will listen — that is not how bigots behave and think. Are you sure you are not the bigot? Bigotry is refusing… Read more »
I suspect your problem is you think I am supposed to LIKE loud neighborhoods and you want to change me.
And, as you can read above, I have noted that for SOME people (not me) the drug helps them be productive, but for most people it seems demotivational and makes one prone to sitting around playing video games or listening to music.
Virginia legislators are so dumb. There are successful blueprints for this market,why try to reinvent the wheel? Same deal with the casinos. We’re not first to market folks, what’s the problem?
Wow it’s great to see all these comments. As a disabled veteran I started Old Manchester to help others. 4 years ago I built the company with the help from others 7500 sq ft indoor grow facility and 1000 sq ft retail space. The largest indoor grow in VA and the only growing facility within Richmond city limits. I stayed compliant with all permits growing the highest grade of CBD flower. Every product I produce was lab tested and stayed compliant. Many Senators, delegates, councilors, and a few celebrities have toured my facility. I staffed over 15 people from minorities,… Read more »
Good luck to you Sir and your ventures!