New pot shops on the block not always so popular

DENVER The booming new marijuana industry has an image problem. Not with government officials and the public but with other businesses.

From crime fears to smell complaints, new marijuana retailers and growers face suspicion and sometimes open antagonism from their commercial neighbors, especially in Denver, which now has 200 marijuana retailers and dozens of pot growing and manufacturing facilities.

The strife went public last week along a once-forlorn stretch of highway south of downtown Denver now sprinkled with marijuana shops.

About two dozen pot shops along this stretch of Broadway, often dubbed Broadsterdam, had a marketing idea for the upcoming holiday shopping season. Why not join forces with neighboring antique shops to market the whole area as The Green Mile?

The pot shops called a meeting, expecting an enthusiastic response from neighboring businesses that have seen boarded-up storefronts replaced with bustling pot shops with lines out the door. Instead, the suggestion unleashed a torrent of anger from the antique-shop owners.

We dont want to work with you, said James Neisler, owner of Heidelberg Antiques. Your customers, theyre the long-haired stinky types. They go around touching everything and they dont buy anything.

The meeting went downhill from there. Despite the support of some neighbors one quipped that stoned shoppers carrying lots of cash have been great for business the proposal exposed simmering antagonism. The pot shops feel theyve revitalized a blighted neighborhood. Some tenants say pot has ruined a neighborhood lined with storefronts that date to the 1940s.

Its a clash that is playing out in other communities in Colorado and Washington that allow marijuana businesses and could stretch to other states now that Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C., have all legalized recreational pot.

The central-Colorado city of Manitou Springs voted last week on whether to kick out recreational pot shops. The ballot measure was proposed by other business owners who complained a dispensary was harming the tourist towns family-friendly reputation. The ballot measure failed.

Jason Warf, executive director of the Southern Colorado Cannabis Council, said his 30 or so members frequently clash with other businesses. In fact, his group was formed when existing chambers of commerce rejected cannabis-related members.

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New pot shops on the block not always so popular