Verdes Cannabis opens second shop in Santa Fe

Teya Vitu, The Santa Fe New Mexican
·1 min read

Nov. 14—Verdes Cannabis, formerly known as Verdes Foundation, will open its second Santa Fe cannabis dispensary Nov. 23 in the same building as Café Grazie at Plaza Santa Fe, 3530 Zafarano Drive, Unit C.

Verdes, a top five marijuana seller in New Mexico, opened its first Santa Fe store in February downtown on Shelby Street, and for a few weeks Santa Fe will be the only city with two Verdes Cannabis shops. Verdes, one of the oldest cannabis retailers in New Mexico since 2010, has other shops in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho, with a second Albuquerque store opening in December.

"Shelby was meant to introduce tourists to cannabis," said Celeste Melchor, Verdes' marketing manager. "Sixty percent of Shelby customers are from out of state. The reason we wanted a second store in Santa Fe was to serve locals."

The 3,000-square-foot Zafarano store will have display cases, coffee and cannabis education sessions, Melchor said.

Verdes has nearly doubled its cannabis growing this year to slightly over 3,000 plants.

The website weedmaps.com maps out 29 cannabis shops in Santa Fe. New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department reports 23 cannabis retail licenses in Santa Fe, but some license holders have more than one shop.

"There are more dispensaries than Starbucks and McDonald's combined in New Mexico," Melchor said.