Harborside (HBOR.C) receives approval for retail sales at San Leandro dispensary

Harborside (HBOR.C) announced it has received approval from the California Bureau of Cannabis Control to begin retail sales at San Leandro Wellness Solutions (SLWS) dispensary.

This approval allows them to move forward with their previously announced plans for SLWS, when they decided to transition from a medical use to an adult-use dispensary. As they previously announced, they also received a six-month extension on their lease at the San Leandro property, which Harborside hopes will allow them to finalize the terms of a lease and a subsequent build-out of a new retail location in San Leandro.

Harborside expects their new San Leandro dispensary to significantly reduce their operating costs, saving them $2 million over the ten-year lease term.

Last year, Cannabis sales in California grew 57% from the previous year, reaching $4.4 billion. These numbers are encouraging for any company looking to enter the California cannabis market, or, in Harborside’s case, expand their existing operation.

“We are thrilled to have received approval to commence adult-use sales in San Leandro,” stated Peter Bilodeau, Interim CEO of Harborside. “This has been a long process and we are excited to expand our potential customer base to provide them with the best-in-class service and unbeatable product selection that Harborside is known for. With our upcoming move to a more efficient location in San Leandro, I look forward to deepening our relationship with the local community and continuing to serve our patients and customers.”

In other HBOR news, on May 11, Harborside appointed Travis Higginbotham to be their VP of Production. He will be in charge of HBOR’s Salinas cultivation, post-harvest, processing, and packaging facilities. Their press release describes Higginbotham as a “commercial cultivation specialist and business owner in the hemp and cannabis space with more than eight years of experience”.

Earlier in his career, Higginbotham was the Director of Research and Development for Battlefield Farms, where he worked on a 1.8 million square foot greenhouse operation. He also managed partnerships with 28 global floricultural breeding companies and provided advice to other producers on crop performance and genetic selection. Harborside obviously feels his experience in this area will be valuable.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Travis, with his impressive cultivation and business development expertise, to the Harborside team,” stated Bilodeau. “With extensive horticulture industry experience, Travis will lead our production teams and look to implement further facility improvements at our Salinas cultivation facility to drive harvest yield expansion while reducing operating costs and boosting profitability. We look forward to expanding access to Harborside-branded and third-party products with Travis at the helm in Salinas.”