Cresco Labs Expands In Ohio, Buys 4 Verdant Creations Dispensaries

Cannabis company Cresco Labs CL CRLBF has completed its purchase of Verdant Creations’ four dispensaries in Ohio.

The newly acquired stores are located in Cincinnati, Chillicothe, Newark and Marion. This brings the company’s total number of dispensaries in the state to five, which is the maximum permissible in the Buckeye State.

Cresco already has one dispensary in Wintersville and a cultivation and processing facility in Yellow Springs.

The Chicago-based company's strategy is to bolster its presence across states that have a developed cannabis market. Ohio’s number of medical patients went up from 78,000 to 160,000 in 2020, having annual cannabis sales of $220 million.

Cresco has the biggest type of cultivation license in the states, enabling 25,000 square-feet of cultivation, a complete processing facility, and now the maximum number of retail stores. What’s more, the company supplies its flower products to 88% of dispensaries in Ohio.

“In 2020, we demonstrated the growth and leverage that can be created by focusing only on the most strategic markets, executing high-quality cultivation at scale, distributing our branded products onto every shelf and focusing on targeted, consumer-focused, high-volume retail. In 2021, we’re using the same playbook to go deeper in strategic states, including Ohio,” Cresco Labs CEO Charlie Bachtell said.

The newest purchase helps the company better position itself in the Ohio cannabis market, which reminds to the markets in Pennsylvania and Illinois in its first years, he explained.

“We are thrilled to be amplifying our operations in Ohio this year and look forward to bringing our brands to more patients throughout the state,” Bachtell added.