Everett’s second recreational marijuana shop opened its doors on Friday, Jan. 30, over two years after marijuana became legal to use recreationally in Washington State. Purple Haze is one of the 100 recreational shops to open in the state, and has been chasing the legal process in preparation since legalization was passed into a law in Washington State. Located at 4218 Rucker Ave in Everett the recreational marijuana store serves an under-represented community, offering cannabis and cannabis infused products to people, who used to travel to acquire them.

Opening a recreational marijuana shop in Washington can be challenging, particularly because of zoning rules and regulations. Recreational shops are not allowed within 1,000 feet of a school, a state-licensed daycare or a public park. Shops must adhere to these rules, yet still find a location that is accessible to the community and in a heavily-trafficked area of town. For smaller communities these obstacles can prove daunting. However, Everett’s new marijuana team put any concerns at ease, abiding by all rules without any problems.  

Purple Haze is excited to be a part of the Everett community, and has felt a great amount of joy from the planning stages to execution. Any obstacles set before the owners and managers have been overcome.

“I have been smoking marijuana for about 5 years now, it helps me with my stress, when I smoke I don’t feel stressed out anymore,” said Jeff Victor, a Criminal Justice major at EvCC, “I think the new weed store that opened will be a great help to Everett because marijuana is a great stress reliever and it has many medical uses too.”

Reach Island LLC, the licensee for PH, is planning to open a shop in West Seattle in April to better serve the expansive Everett and Seattle areas in order to increase their customer service. However, this is currently the only future project for Reach Island LLC. This is not to say that PH does not offer service worthy of commuting to. In fact, the Everett branch strives to provide exceptional customer service and products to its immediate and outlying communities. With competitive price points and diverse products.

PH currently has 27 marijuana strains, more than 15 varieties of marijuana edibles, and 20 different types of marijuana concentrate. PH is excelling in the product department in terms of variety, as well as price. In its first week of operation PH set its competitive standards, and if its first week of product is any indication of the future it will be hard to beat. For Super Bowl weekend, consumers were able to purchase four different strains that were priced at $12/gram, and a Seahawks branded pipe filled with .5g, 21% THC of White Russian (a strain of marijuana), taxes included.

“Prices are significantly better than the competition; this shop prides itself on this and has no plans of changing it. Quality and affordability, as well as a diverse product offering to our customers, this shop has already earned its place on the map, and I don’t see any signs of it slowing down,” said Jose Alvarez Purple-Haze Recreational manager.

Alvarez is excited about the future of PH. The variety of marijuana strains and inventory will all be adjusted according to demand of the consumers, which will supposedly help keep community involvement and satisfaction optimum. PH says that their management is sincere, knowledgeable and customer oriented.