Resident part owner in marijuana dispensary
Shango is fifth such business to open
The new Shango cannabis provisioning store in Hazel Park has a homegrown strain among its owners and was finishing up the last day of a multi-part grand opening Tuesday.
Ownership of the location includes resident Curtis Goure. His family has owned and operated the BDT Smoke Shop in the city for nearly a half century.
“I’m proud to be the only licensed retail operator in Hazel Park who can call himself a resident,” Goure said in a statement. “We hope that the (Shango) Hazel Park Provisioning Center will be one of the crown jewels of the revitalization of the Chrysler Drive District.”
The cannabis store is inside the former Coney Cravers restaurant at 22821 S. Chrysler Dr., just south of Nine Mile Road.
Shango’s soft opening last month makes it the fifth marijuana business in the city so far.
Over the weekend, the business had food trucks, a live DJ, and tents featuring cannabis products that were given away.
Brandon Rexroad, owner and CEO of Shango Worldwide, said in a statement it is the largest grand opening Shango has ever done.
“And our Hazel Park location is sure to make a huge impact on the local economy,” Rexroad said.
City Manager Ed Klobucher
said marijuana businesses have been a positive for Hazel Park, an older city in Oakland County incorporated in 1942.
Marijuana businesses “have taken over vacant or underutilized buildings and become part of the economic activity in the city,” he said.
Cannabis commerce is also attracting other businesses to the community, Klobucher added, and the city is gaining new interest from non-marijuana business.
Goure’s ownership stake in Shango may well make the new marijuana business attractive to other residents.
“He’s been a longtime business owner and operator here,” Klobucher said. “He’s participated in all
kinds of city activities and affairs.”
Goure and his wife took an active volunteer role in building a new park area recently.
“That involved putting boards together and other physical work,” Klobucher said. “He and his wife showed up every single day to help build that park.”
Shango has several recreational and medical cannabis dispensaries in Las Vegas, Portland, Ore., and Moreno Valley, Calif. in addition to other Michigan stores in Bay City and Lapeer.
Two other locations are planned to open soon in Missouri.
Information about the company’s stores, products and services is online at goshango.com