Two years after launching its first store in Ravenna, marijuana dispensary Supergood is preparing to expand into Akron.
Akron City Council granted the company a conditional use permit to turn the former 224 Brew Thru at 2010 East Waterloo Road into a dual-use dispensary. The plan must still be approved by the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control. This is the seventh council-approved dual-use dispensary, with two more proposals waiting in the wings.
Supergood Chief Financial Officer Darcie Fankhauser told the council’s Planning and Economic Development Committee the family-owned company plans to keep its operations small.
“We don’t like a lot of bureaucracy,” she said at the Sept. 29 meeting, “and we like our small family format. At most, we’ll have a couple stores within the state, but this is going to be our second so it’s a big expansion for us.” Fankhauser said many of Supergood’s employees already commute to Ravenna from the Akron area, making the expansion a good fit for its current operations.
Documents from the Department of Planning and Urban Development state that Supergood intends to hire roughly 30 employees to staff its Akron store. The store would be open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week, the document said.
Fankhauser said the company was attracted to this area because of the high vehicle traffic and recent proliferation of new businesses, including car washes and fast-casual restaurants.
She explained that the 3,605 square-foot, one-story building is large enough for Supergood’s purposes, although the company will need to replace the roof and floor as well as close off the drive-thru portion of the store. Planning and urban development documents say the company intends to “completely renovate” the inside and outside of the store. Plans include significant landscaping.
“The property will be amply landscaped with a mix of canopy trees, evergreens, deciduous shrubs, ornamental grass and stone,” the documents said. “The southeastern portion of the property will feature a contoured landscape bed of rain garden plantings.”
The Ravenna location is nearly 1,500-square-feet smaller than the proposed Akron site, Fankhauser said, “and we’re busting at the seams, so this will be kind of a perfect size range for what we’re looking for.” She told at-large Councilwoman Linda Omobien the Ravenna store sees 400 to 600 customers per day Monday through Thursday. Those numbers tick up to 700 to 800 daily customers on Friday and Saturday.
About 20% to 25% of the Ravenna store’s business comes from Akron residents, Fankhauser said, “so we do think there will be some equaling out of those transactions, but we think it’ll be a fairly busy store.”
Ward 6 Councilman Brad McKitrick said the dispensary site is close to his house.
“I have no problem with this,” he said. “I think this would be a great location because it would not create traffic issues like we’ve heard with some of the other businesses coming into the city.”
Contact reporter Derek Kreider at DKreider@Gannett.com or 330-541-9413.