Battle Creek’s New Cannabis Store Opens

Battle Creek’s new medical marijuana dispensary, “Common Citizen”, opened for business on Friday.    The Battle Creek store, owned by Michigan Pure Med, is designed like the company’s Flint store, which opened last spring.  The Battle Creek store is just smaller, but the design is the same.

The building, at 1240 East Columbia Avenue in Battle Creek, was a BTG (Burgers to Go) Express in the 1990’s, but has been empty for many years.

Michael Elias, CEO of Michigan Pure Med and Common Citizen, was on hand to greet customers and the media as the doors opened at 10am.   “We’re proud to offer a welcoming and caring company culture that puts employees and our customers first and we’re excited to create jobs for the Marshall and Battle Creek communities,” said Elias.  Workers from the Flint store are staffing the store for now.  A job fare is being held on Wednesday, Oct. 16, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Community Room of the Marshall Welcome Center, 323 W. Michigan Ave. in Marshall.  Michigan Pure Med and Common Citizen are seeking candidates to fill about 40 positions at its Marshall facility, including growers and various management roles.

The building has a very clean and organized look, inside and out.   It couldn’t be any more different than the “head shops” of the 70’s, filled with record albums, posters, bongs and pipes.    And unlike those 1970’s stores, there are samples of marijuana and edible cannabis products on display.   Each display has an informational card, and a clear sample box that allows you to smell the product, or look at it under a magnifying glass. Common Citizen offers flowers, oils, concentrates, vape pens and edibles across Common Citizen’s four product categories known as “Common States” to meet patients’ unique needs. All of Common Citizen’s products are 100% free of non-natural additives.

Customers must have a valid medical marijuana card from a doctor to purchase, but that could change in the coming months when the State of Michigan finally hashes out how the details of the recreational marijuana law.

Michigan Pure Med’s Marshall facility will produce products for Common Citizen, its retail affiliates and brand partners. The manufacturing facility will adhere to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), which are quality standards set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The facility, south of Marshall, will have capacity to scale to over 1.2 million square feet and create 400 jobs over the next five years. Learn more at mipuremed.com.

On Saturday, Oct. 19, from noon to 5 p.m., Common Citizen will host “Common Ground” – an exciting grand opening celebration for the Battle Creek community. There will be refreshments, live music featuring Pro DJs and a variety of giveaways. A formal ribbon-cutting ceremony will happen at 1:30 p.m. Community members age 18 and older with a medical marijuana card can attend. Those without a medical marijuana card must be 21 or older to attend.