The staff is friendly, clean, sober and knowledgeable.
The atmosphere of the shop itself is as drab as it gets, antiseptic and dull. White walls, three small glass counters and a hard worn floor.
The lines are long and the inventory never lasts, so you have a VERY high risk of lining up for a very long time and not being able to buy anything.
They have this terrible policy where they "round up" to the nearest 5 dollars if you use a card, so everyone gets cash out of a machine (which charges a huge service fee), which holds up lines and service.
The staff suffer through it all, meekly apologizing for no product, no decor or atmosphere, long lines and quite frankly exorbitant pricing, (none of which they really have any control over).
I've bought several brands and styles now and I can summarize my findings as:
1. Avoid pre-rolled joints entirely. They are a waste of money. I've had three now, all came in UNDER weight and were rolled too tight to smoke smoothly. The overall quality is inferior to flower and seems like the "scraps" of other blends, rolled into something convenient at a heavier price.
2. I like kush from my street dealer, but both kush flower blends I tried here were subrate. Really you can find better mediocre stuff from just about any random street dealer. I will be avoiding all kush blends here as a result.
3. I tried a 2 gram pack from Gecko Growers, called "Girl Scout Cookie". It was superb. Even just the smell of it makes it clear it was both potent and pleasant.
Girl Scout cookie smokes well in paper, pipe or bong. It is a little moist, but still conducive to burning well.
It produces an exceptionally "happy" high. It has a bit of "creeper" edge to it and may not last quite as long as other flower, but the overall buzz is very pleasant.
Girl Scout Cookie was great flower after a tough day, or a Friday night when you want your work stress to evaporate.
I will be buying it again.
SUMMARY:
This place has a long way to go. Most of its problems are outside its control, the supply chain is still ridiculously short and unreliable and the demand still stronger than anyone anticipated.
The fact it was the only retailer approved in the state's largest urban center is not the retailer's fault, but only exacerbates the problems.
Still, the elements Cannabis City can control are not that great either. There's no shelter from the elements as you wait in line, no information while you waiting what may or may not be in stock. There's no guarantee you'll get anything at all in fact.
The only redeeming quality here is the staff know their stuff and are very courteous.
It's like they know this whole roll out has been a debacle and are trying to compensate for it as best as they can.
Hopefully things will improve and the good news is at least one of the flower strains turned out to be very excellent indeed and worth the trip.