Legacy Cannabis in Duluth opens for recreational sales Tuesday ... at 4:20 p.m.

DULUTH – Legacy Cannabis opened for recreational sales Tuesday in the Lincoln Park neighborhood — and its owners were cheeky about when they would start selling.

The cannabis microbusiness, with flower grown by the White Earth Nation, opened to the public at 4:20 p.m., a nod to the slang associated with pot smoking.

“It’s been a journey,” said Josh Wilken-Simon, who started the company by selling glass pipes at music festivals before opening brick-and-mortar shops that in recent years have offered low-potency hemp beverages and edibles.

The shop at 1906 W. Superior St. has been prepared for weeks, right down to a license from the city posted on the wall. A sign in the window had indicated opening was days away. And inside, the space was reconfigured for an employee to check IDs as shoppers came through the door.

Since then, the process has been slowed by making sure the tribe’s laws sync with state laws.

“All parties involved really wanted to nail it,” Wilken-Simon said.

Right at 4:20 Tuesday, Wilken-Simon addressed the line of dozens who had gathered in the hour before the shop opened.

Several people in line said they had been waiting years for the day this shop would open, tucked between a small-batch ice cream shop and a skateboard store. Some live in the neighborhood around Duluth’s Craft District; some made frequent phone calls about the opening.

Kim Solberg of New Glarus, Wis., was among the first to buy gummies and pre-rolled joints. She was in Duluth on vacation and hadn’t heard of Legacy Cannabis until she saw it while eating ice cream. Cannabis isn’t legal in her state, but she likes part of a gummy if she’s struggling to sleep or has anxiety.

“Just to relax me,” she said.

According to the Office of Cannabis Management, Legacy Cannabis is the first state-licensed business to sell tribally grown cannabis flower. Cannabis has been legal in Minnesota for two years.

Garrett Boman said he saw the notification on Facebook and decided to stop by the shop.

Jonny Castle is a longtime employee at Legacy Cannabis and said it felt really good to see the line forming outside of the store.

“This has been the plan for the journey all along,” he said.

Dispensaries in Minnesota can sell adult-use cannabis grown only within the state, which has created the potential for supply hiccups. The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe signed its paperwork alongside Gov. Tim Walz last week. It’s the second tribe in the state, following White Earth months earlier, to be allowed to open dispensaries beyond tribal lands.

There have been adult-use and medical cannabis dispensaries on tribal land since August 2023. The first tribal-state cannabis compact with the White Earth Nation led to adult-use dispensaries in Moorhead and St. Cloud earlier this year.

The state has issued 37 business licenses, 23 to microbusinesses that plan to have retail cannabis for sale, according to the Office of Cannabis Management.