Arizona launch sets stage for major expansion plans
By Patrick Wagner
QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. – Before breaking ground on its ambitious business plans in Nevada, Tryke Companies opened its first dispensary in 2014 as a proof of concept in Queen Creek, Arizona.
Company: Reef Dispensaries
Location: Queen Creek, Arizona
Employees: 50
Operations: Medical dispensary and indoor 30,000-square-foot grow facility using hydroponics
“From day one, I said we’re not going to be the typical pot shop that has green and marijuana leaves everywhere,” Morgan said. “We’re not doing that. I want this to be a logo and advertisement that you’d see in Time Magazine, not in High Times. I always knew that this was going to go away from the black market and from being under a rock and I wanted to have that mainstream look for the day that happened.”
Morgan built the Queen Creek dispensary around the fundamental lessons he took from his previous experiences in the cannabis industry, using “a simple and modern approach to everything,” he said.
Tryke Companies achieved its goal of vertical integration when it opened the doors of its 30,000-square-foot cultivation facility in April. Zoning officials in Phoenix originally gave Morgan the green light to build a grow operation outside a residential community, but when a local news station aired the story, protestors rallied to push the business to relocate away from their homes.
“They banded together and talked about all the horrible things we would do for the neighborhood if we moved in there,” Morgan said. “They were portraying cannabis as this evil substance and that there were going to be gang fights around the neighborhood because there was a cultivation (facility) there.”
Although the Phoenix City Council did not force Tryke to move, Morgan pulled up stakes in favor of a less controversial location.
“Basically they put you into a geographic box in Arizona,” he said. “We looked around on the cultivation side and settled on a 30,000-square-foot building that we could expand on.”
With the facility up and running, Tryke can focus on bringing its line of in-house products to consumers in Arizona, while taking the necessary steps to expand into new markets. Reef Dispensaries will be Tryke Companies’ national retail chain, as Morgan plans to open several other retail outlets in the Southwest before moving into other legal markets. Reef Dispensaries recently began construction on its flagship location, one block off the famous Las Vegas strip.