Michigan’s first recreational dispensary is now Oxford’s second — the Village of Oxford Planning Commission approved Exclusive Brands’ application for a dispensary at its Jan. 18 meeting.
Located at 850 S. Glaspie St., Exclusive Brands’ retail-only store will use about half of the building’s interior. The approval is conditional based on Exclusive Brands meeting certain requests and requirements, like modifying the landscaping to fit ordinances and getting the security plan approved by the Village police.
The store will operate on an “escorted model” with up to seven shoppers inside at any given time, allowing staff and security to fully focus on the shoppers. Five “budtenders” will be on-site during operating hours along with three support staff (security, management, etc.)
The store will be monitored by security cameras 24/7 with contracted security overnight. During work hours security guards are tasked with making sure customer interactions go smoothly and only stepping in when issues arise, according to Nick Warra, retail operations manager for Exclusive Brands.
“We use every tactic that we could use to deflect and make sure you have a happy customer,” Warra said. “Worst case scenario, our motto is ‘never put hands on a customer.’ If it comes to a situation where they will not leave and they are causing an altercation at the facility, we normally defer to the police department to come and handle the situation.”
850 S. Glaspie is a legal non-conforming building and will not be modified, but changes will be made to the property. Half of the interior will be renovated to fit the retail business, a MERV 14-rated air filtration system will be installed to handle any fumes, a concrete bumper will be placed to divide adjoining lots, a new dumpster enclosure will be built and the building will be painted “a cream color,” according to architect Cody Newman of Driven Design. While 850 S. Glaspie has a loading zone, all merchandise deliveries will go through the front door during off-hours.
Exclusive Brands is based out of Livonia and operates four stores throughout Michigan with three recreation-focused facilities in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor with a medical-only facility in Muskegon. Exclusive Brands was the first company to receive growing, processing and dispensing licenses from state regulators in 2019.
Asked by commission member Scott Flynn on why Exclusive wants to open in Oxford, Warra said the company wants to kick start its workers’ careers.
“I want to train people, I want to get them skills,” Warra said. “I want to help them grow, achieve their goals and then see them flourish in other opportunities whether it is within our company or outside this company. I want to at least give them the skills to be more knowledgeable in many different areas where they can make more money and have a better career.”