Green Thumb Industries Shares Slightly Up After Announcing Debut In Rhode Island

Green Thumb Industries Inc. GTII GTBIF, the owner of Rise dispensaries, has entered into the Rhode Island market through the acquisition of one of only three cannabis retail locations in the state, a month after its debut in Virginia.

Headquartered in Chicago, the company announced Monday it has closed the deal to take over Mobley Pain Management and Wellness Center (DE), LLC and Canwell Processing (Rhode Island), LLC, both with contractual interests in Summit Medical Compassion Center, Inc., a non-profit corporation with vertically integrated cannabis operations in Rhode Island.

The acquisition includes a Warwick-based facility and dispensary, and "provides immediate scale within a limited license market and sits squarely in our enter, open, scale strategy to expand access to well-being through cannabis," Ben Kovler, the company's founder and CEO, explained.

Reporting roughly $60 million in retail cannabis sales for the 2020 fiscal year-end, according to the state Department of Business Regulation, the Rhode Island cannabis market will strengthen the company's position on the East Coast.

Currently, GTI is equipped to serve almost 50% of the US population across California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia at its 61 retail locations.

"The expanded reach of Green Thumb's quality branded products and extraordinary retail experience is a big win for the state of Rhode Island and its patients," said Steve Harrington, principal owner of Canwell.

Social Equity Initiatives

In the meantime, GTI has been working toward bringing more social equity into the cannabis space by launching a line of cannabis products dubbed Good Green. The company plans to utilize the sales from Good Green products to help those impacted by the War on Drugs by creating professional opportunities.

On Sunday, GTI started accepting applications to its LEAP New Business Accelerator, a cannabis business incubator designed to help promote opportunity and success for new social equity entrepreneurs in Illinois.

Price Action

GTI's shares were trading 2.23% higher at $30.00 per share at the time of writing Monday morning.

Photo: Courtesy of Kym MacKinnon on Unsplash