More than 30 retail outlets are selling cannabis products in the Chattanooga area, but the newest CBD retailer to enter the Chattanooga market says he will offer a more comfortable THC shopping experience with a range of hemp-related products.
Lee VanTine is bringing his latest Apotheca CBD and Hemp Markets store to Chattanooga, opening the company's 25th outlet Thursday with a new storefront at 1906 Gunbarrel Road.
"There's a huge demand for cannabis topicals, tinctures, edibles, concentrates and flower, especially in states that haven't legalized it yet," VanTine, owner of the Apotheca chain, said in an announcement of the company's new store. "But finding good, sustainable products was a little 'iffy.'"
VanTine opened his first Apotheca CBD store in North Carolina in 2019 and has since expanded with other stores in the Charlotte, Greensboro and Asheville, North Carolina, markets and in Knoxville and Kingsport in Tennessee. He is planning to add at least two stores in the Atlanta market.
The new Chattanooga store opens at 8 a.m. Thursday. VanTine said he sees potential throughout the Southeast and growing even bigger from there, one store at a time.
Under the 2018 farm bill that legalized industrial hemp, all cannabis plants grown as industrial hemp contain less than 0.3% delta-9 THC, the psychoactive chemical that causes euphoria. The cannabis products sold at Apotheca and other CBD outlets are legal even in Southern states where regular marijuana is still illegal to grow and possess.
"Cannabis is a complex plant," VanTine said in a news release about Apotheca. "With prohibition just ending, we're still learning about its amazing properties. There are hundreds of chemicals inside the plant that have been used by mankind for centuries."
There are hundreds of products derived legally from hemp at Apotheca. VanTine said his stores are stocked with edibles, topicals, tinctures, concentrates and the hemp flower itself.
"There have been so many innovations since 2018," he said.
"New products include psychedelic gummies, delta-8 THC, delta-9 THC (yes, the same one as in legal-state cannabis, but derived from hemp), delta-10 and 11 THC, too. There's also HHC, THC-O, THC-V, THC-A, CBG, CBN and the list just grows."
The Apotheca brand has grown to include kratom goods and other supplements. Some of the Apotheca stores also have farm-fresh items like honies, jams, cheeses and even ice cream.
"Apotheca delivers a shopping experience like no other, with hundreds of products and a friendly staff to help find the best fit," VanTine said.
— Compiled by Dave Flessner