Farming family opens California Cannabis near state line
CALIFORNIA TWP. — Entrepreneur Jason Reichhart will open his California Michigan Cannabis Company 24-hour recreational marijuana shop Thursday morning after more than a year of planning and building the facility.
The store is a mile and a half north of the Indiana state line at 891 Fremont Road at the family farm.
His son Jesse, who died in May, originally suggested the cannabis store because Indiana does not allow any marijuana sales.
Reichhart and his wife Terrie, with longtime friend Lonnie Rogers, decided to open a store after they saw traffic increase on Fremont Road when Coldwater and Quincy opened recreational marijuana stores in the summer of 2021.
"We want to help Coldwater with its traffic problem," he joked.
The location is just 3.2 miles east of Exit 3 on I-69 south of Copeland Road.
"You look at the numbers that come in across the state line. We're right in that prime spot," Reichhart said.
None of the three owners use marijuana, however none are opposed to the products "in any way, shape, or form," Jason Reichhart said. "What the product does for people that need pain relief is why we are in the business."
Reichhart added, "When I retire, just because of joint pain, leg pain, knee pain, I would definitely be using some form of cannabis to ease those pains."
The metal pole building provides the only enclosed drive-thru sales in lower Michigan and 24-hour sales. "For customer service and security. There is always at least four people inside the building and three guards outside," he said.
All sales are regulated inside and outside in the drive-thru for customer and employee safety. Dozens of monitored cameras are in and around the store.
Video boards list products and prices, and the computerized sales system also allows customers to pre-order and pay, then drive in for pick up.
The company has 56 employees.
"We have a lot of veterans. A lot of our people have been in the cannabis business, have run other stores as general managers," Reichhart said.
Son Brad is the general manager, and his wife, Terrie, is the human resources manager. Their daughter, Megan, works as a compliance manager.
Because of the rural, remote location, Reichhart set up his own security company, hiring former police and military. All hold concealed weapons permits and Rottweilers patrol at night.
Reichhart said the company contacted nearby Fremont, Indiana, which provides fire protection, to respond with needed help in an emergency.
For now, Reichhart will purchase all types of cannabis products, buds, oils, and edibles, through the licensed, regulated Michigan system.
They will carry CBD products sold just for pain, including for animals.
Reichhart obtained a class C grow license for up to 2,000 plants, but that is on hold for now.
"We already have the ground laid out and a septic field done for a 12,000 square foot facility," he said.
His son, Brad, who left Pfizer in Kalamazoo, wants to open the grow operation once they find a master grower with experience in growing quality marijuana.
California Michigan Cannabis and a Dollar General store are the only commercial businesses in the rural township of 1,181 people.
Township Supervisor Sheila Alley said the township board voted to allow one license for a local resident so the township could share in the state cannabis excise tax revenues.
Alley said the board won't consider other licenses.
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Reichhart left the semitruck sales business four years ago to move to the farm, JTR Acres. The family owns a cattle company that raises premium Angus beef.
Reichhart sells small and large sheds and pole barns throughout the Midwest. He did turn his logging company over to others. "That was too dangerous," he said.
-- Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Farming family opens California Cannabis near state line
