Arizona transplant finds niche in crowded Oregon market
By Patrick Wagner
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – Employees at Meg’s Marijuana are encouraged to try every product they sell. Megan Summers, the co-owner and namesake of the Springfield, Oregon dispensary, wants her staff to be able to give first-hand testimony about each product on the shelves.
“From their own experience, I think, is one of the best ways for patients to feel comfortable and trust your opinion,” Summers said.
Thanks in part to the opening of recreational sales in Oregon, revenue has quadrupled since Summers opened her store in November 2014 in the crowded Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area.
“The first day of recreational sales we made over $20,000,” Summers said. “Just in that one day.”
Summers, an Arizona transplant, suffers from PTSD and helped legitimize it as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana in Arizona before leaving the arid desert for the Pacific Northwest.
“Truthfully, I hated Arizona,” she added. “The quality of product here is infinitely better.”
Summers said she knew recreational cannabis was on the horizon in Oregon and wanted to be a part of the transition. She had been working as a dispensary manager in Tucson, Arizona when she met her future partner, Nicholas Salsberry.
“He was looking for someone he could invest in and I wanted to create a dispensary that had what I valued,” she said.
Summers wanted a storefront where she would be free to work with each individual patient in a more intimate setting. The partnership with Salsberry was a step in that direction. Summers made it a priority to develop personal connections with her customers.
“Something that I learned when I moved up here to Oregon is that people talk and word of mouth can be a powerful thing,” she said. She quickly discovered that interacting with her clientele spread the word about her dispensary.
Inside and out, the look of Meg’s Marijuana is different than most other dispensaries — simple, feminine and featuring a spacious sales floor. Chandeliers dip low from the center of the sales floor and reflect off the black marble floors and lights up the modern, black and red color scheme of the interior. The open format also provides separate points of sale for medical and recreational customers.
“We definitely have a classy vibe,” Summers said.
“I would describe it as high-end professional.”