Originally opened by co-owners Jerrie and Dash Paine on April 20, 2015, and tucked away on Northwest State Avenue west of the train tracks in downtown Chehalis, Lewis County’s first retail cannabis dispensary Old Toby now has a new home.
Its new location is at the corner of North National Avenue and Coal Creek Road. The Chronicle met with Jerrie on Monday, March 9, to learn why she and Dash originally decided to open Old Toby and what prompted their move.
The dispensary’s name is a reference to the “Old Toby weed” mentioned by multiple characters in The Lord of the Rings.
“When Gandalf offers the Old Toby, that will ‘calm your nerves,’” Jerrie joked.
On top of having more retail space and being located along the main thru-way between the Twin Cities, Old Toby’s new home also has a rear parking lot with room for food trucks, with the Paines even working on having a certified commercial kitchen built in their new building for food truck chefs to utilize.
The food truck idea came as multiple other plans to sell glass and possible pet products are also being discussed.
“We started on this building project in November 2020,” Jerrie said.
That was five years into running Old Toby, which Jerrie’s friends said would never work out in the first place when they were initially talking of opening it in 2015.
“People told us, ‘You’re crazy, Lewis County will never allow it.’ Which is true, Lewis County didn’t allow it, but Chehalis did listen to at least our reasons, and the people that presented their opinions with this to the city council at the time,” Jerrie said. “They said, ‘Hey, this is something that is helping people, why are we standing in the way?’ Which I thought was profound. Dr. (Isaac) Pope, I believe, was the person who turned to the regular council members, looking around asking, ‘Why are we going to object if this is medicine to folks?’”
Not only did Chehalis end up allowing it, but 11 years after opening, Lewis County officials are now considering amending county code by removing the requirement of a federal license to operate a cannabis retail store or production operation in the county in order to generate more tax revenue amid budgetary issues.
County staff are currently conducting a survey on this issue which can be found on the county’s website at https://tinyurl.com/36r5nrfu, along with other information concerning the code change.
Jerrie is originally from Mossyrock but was raised in Arkansas by her mother following her father’s death.
“If you hear a Southern accent come out on occasion, that’s why. I’m a native Washingtonian, but I was trapped in the South most of my life,” Jerrie said.
Prior to moving back to the Pacific Northwest in 2011, Jerrie was initially against medical marijuana use.
“I was someone very much against it most of my life. (I was raised) very conservative. My mother did not curse. She did not drink. She was very much against anything drug related. She didn’t take prescriptions, I think, maybe beyond her blood thinner or blood pressure medicine,” Jerrie said.
However, after suffering from severe insomnia and the side effects from prescription medications, she was finally talked into trying cannabis.
“I thought alright, I’ll try a puff. And I slept like a baby, woke up the next day, no residual side effects, and went, ‘Oh my God, did this just happen?’” Jerrie said. “And I never looked back. Now cannabis has replaced not only what I was taking for insomnia, but what I was taking for my stomach, what I was taking for anxiety, what I was taking for depression. I’m not on any of those pharmaceuticals anymore, and haven’t been for several years.”
She added it isn’t for everyone, but she wants to ensure it's available for those who it does work for. She also thanked her staff, many of whom had been working there for years, for their dedication to the business and helping shape its success.
“Truly, the crew that works here is super special. They really go out of their way to take care of customers. World-class service right here in this little town when it comes to cannabis,” Jerrie said. “We hear that from people passing through from Portland to Seattle all the time, that when they stop here and experience Old Toby, it’s unlike any pot store they've ever been to. And I think that’s because of the crew. It’s nothing to do with the product. It has nothing to do with our blue building now on the corner of Coal Creek. It has everything to do with the sincerity of my crew.”
To celebrate the new location, Jerrie is planning a grand opening ceremony on Old Toby’s upcoming 11th anniversary celebration on April 20.
Old Toby is located at 1600 N. National Ave. in Chehalis. For more information, call the dispensary at 360-996-4089 or follow it on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/OldToby2015.
