FILE PHOTO — Customers and employees at Marijuana Mart mingle around display cases in Rochester.
Marijuana Mart is located at 6039 197th Ave. SW in Rochester.
Marijuana Mart in Rochester, like every other pot store in the country, experienced an influx of customers on Friday — or the annual celebration of 420 as the cool cats call it.
“We’re all pretty good about trying the different product,” said Kelsey Whitney, who manages the store. “Product knowledge is a very big thing here. We like knowing what we sell. The whole ‘we get high on our own supply’ thing, we try to make that as true as possible.”
Mike Trobman owns Marijuana Mart, which opened in June 2015. Trobman said that while last year was good, he expects more customers this year.
“We’re anticipating a really good day, particularly because 420 fell on a Friday,” Trobman said. “It’s good timing this year.”
The store offered five pages of specials on their menu this year. One of the store’s most popular items are the $5 grams, and Trobman said a lot of the store’s high-value items do well.
“I would say it’s that and also our selection and pricing,” Trobman said. “With a name like ‘Marijuana Mart’ we have to have a large selection. We try to have something for everybody in here and I think that we do.”
Whitney said there were five cars waiting outside the store before they opened Friday morning. Both said they saw a lot of their regular customers as well as a few newbies. Whitney said a few customers came back multiple times to resupply.
In addition to celebrating 420, Marijuana Mart also said goodbye to one of its eight bud tenders. This was the last day for Jacob Hoium, who plans to study full time at Centralia College. Hoium plans to study business and then fashion merchandising.
“My time here has been awesome, it’s like a family atmosphere,” Hoium said. “It’s been really great to learn from these guys. I’ve learned so much in my year here. It’s been awesome.”
Hoium said getting to know people in the community has been his favorite part of working at the pot shop.
“I’ve met so many people from around the area and it’s amazing,” Hoium said. “It kind of strips everyone down and makes you more relatable to people, I guess. I’ve talked to people and gotten to make friends that I would have never talked to if I hadn’t worked here. It’s really nice to be kind of a staple around here. You run into people from town and they’re like ‘oh, you’re the Marijuana Mart dude’ and you’re like ‘hey!’ It’s pretty great.”
When asked what was signature to Marijuana Mart, Trobman had an immediate answer.
“I think it’s our staff,” Trobman said. “Our staff, I believe, really stands out here. They care about our customers and they listen to our customers and they provide honest feedback to our customers. If we have a product in that our staff doesn’t like and they ask about it, they’ll tell you they don’t like it. They give honest feedback.”
Trobman said his store receives a lot of applications.
“I’ve had two people ask if I would accept their resumes this morning,” Trobman said. “We get it constantly. It’s a job that a lot of people are interested in. One thing we look for is passion, so we want to know that they’re passionate about the industry. If you’re passionate about it, then that translates to the customers. That would be our big thing, is passion. Also, just easy to get along with, conversational, easy to talk to and a willingness to continue and always keep up with the industry and always have that desire.”
Trobman and Whitney both had plans to celebrate 420 on Friday night after the shop closed.
“My husband and I are having our first barbecue of the year, first barbecue of the new house actually,” Whitney said. “I’m just going to test out some of the new product we got in.”
