Bellevue’s third recreational marijuana shop, BelMar, began its soft opening Thursday, Feb. 12, relying mostly on word-of-mouth and curious drivers along 116th Avenue Northeast to draw in business.
General manager Khang Nguyen said the former Pawn Pros – and Bellevue Auto Performance before that – site is an ideal location for drawing in a portion of 116th’s heavy weekday vehicle traffic, either interested in making a purchase or to explore BelMar’s product selection.
BelMar’s opening makes it the third recreational marijuana store – out of the four allowed – to open in Bellevue since licenses were issued by the Washington State Liquor Control Board. Green Theory was first to open last October east of Old Bellevue on Main, followed by Novel Tree on 130th Avenue Northeast in early November.
Nguyen said BelMar receives its marijuana from four indoor grow vendors in Washington, having whittled its options down from about 50. Employees selected them through blind sample testing, Nguyen said, adding not all strains from each of BelMar’s vendors are carried; that would have been more than 40.
“We all unanimously picked the four,” he said. “We’re not going to carry anything that we wouldn’t smoke.”
Nguyen said he hopes to expand the store’s number of suppliers, but the vetting process would be long to do them all. When possible, he added, he likes to see a vendor’s facility first.
“I had time to go through 50 (vendors),” he said of the selection process. “There are 500.”
Opening day items of popularity included edibles and marijuana supplier Evergreen’s vaporizer pens, of which BelMar is the flagship retailer, Nguyen said.
The BelMar general manager said he sees recreational marijuana prices dropping, so his strategy was to immediately begin competitively pricing the store’s marijuana products, starting at $16-$25 per gram.
“I went straight there, as much as I could while still being able to keep our doors open,” Nguyen said.
He said the store will also work to bring more awareness to the marijuana industry, weed’s legal status and etiquette in pot culture.
BelMar’s freestanding storefront is modest on purpose, the interior a more modern, well-lit marijuana showroom. Nguyen said a new WSLCB rule will require him to frost his store windows to prevent any visibility from the right of way on 116th.
There is also the potential for the new store to be razed in a few years to make way for Sound Transit light rail, Nguyen said, so he and staff will stay up on available real estate in Bellevue.
BelMar is located at 614 116th Ave. N.E., and its soft hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays.
