A third cannabis shop finally opens in Fresno. This one has a distinctly local flare

Fresno’s third cannabis dispensary finally opened at the end of last month.

It played a bit under the radar, despite the business’ location on a busy section of Shaw Avenue across from Fashion Fair mall.

But then, The Station doesn’t have the brand recognition of a company like Cookies, which is slated to open its dispensary a few blocks east on Blackstone Avenue in mid-December. The company’s CEO, Berner, is expected to be there and has been personally calling for job applications on his social media.

No, The Station’s brand is decidedly more local; a kind of anti-corporate cannabis.

“I don’t have a corporate attorney,” says owner/operations manager Josh Rogina.

“I don’t have a marketing department.”

So, Rogina makes calls to media and extols the virtues of the store; how it has no plans for locations in other cities, but does have an unofficial goal of providing 1 million meals to the Central California Food Bank and offers paid public service hours to staff.

Rogina grew up in Merced and attended Fresno State, where he graduated with a degree in ag business in 2016. He got his start in cannabis opening corporate-branded stores in the north Valley, but decided to go a different direction with The Station.

“Here in Fresno, we wanted to create our own brand,” he says.

“We just wanted to do our own thing.”

The Station operates in a 7,000 square-foot building that used to be the Valley First Credit Union.

It’s a fairly typical dispensary. There is the opaque windowed entryway with security check-in and an open sales floor that features product lines selling everything from recreational gummies and pre-rolls to CBD creams and other wellness products.

All sales are fulfilled through a row of pharmacy like windows on one side of the store.

The difference here, Rogina says, is pricing.

Yes, the store carries popular mainstream brands — there is one wall dedicated to the full Stiiizy product line — but it also works with mom-and-pop farms and manufacturers such as Carter’s Aromatherapy Design.

This allows the store to make more choices on product and pricing. Working directly with producers, the store can get the same cannabis that ends up packaged in other brands, at a lower cost, which is directed into savings for the customers, Rogina says.

You can get edibles for $9, or pay $8 for an eighth, he says. The Station also keeps processing fees for non-cash transactions at a flat three percent, Rogina says.

“I want to cut through all that.”

The idea is to be almost a farm-to-pipe, working with lesser known brands, especially those based in Fresno.

There aren’t many around right now, Rogina says, “but, there will be.”

Fresno’s three dispensaries

Getting legal cannabis into stores has been a slow burn in Fresno.

Nearly three years after the city began the process of awarding its allotment of dispensary licenses (21 split evenly across the seven council districts), The Station is one of three shops open and operating.

The others, Embarc and The Artist Tree, opened on the same day in July last year.

The delay caused a major shortfall in projected tax revenues for the 2023 city budget and is likely one of the reasons Fresno is making efforts to curb illegal cannabis sales at smoke shops around town.

And Rogina isn’t particularly hopeful of other of dispensaries opening soon. Rising interest rates have collapsed the hard money market, he says, and many business just don’t have the capital for the tenant improvements needed to meet the city’s building codes and regulations. The Station was able to open because of its location (which already had vault and other systems in place) and because Rogina was able to raise money from local investors.

“If we didn’t do that,” he says, “we wouldn’t be open.”

Cookies opens in December

A fourth dispensary is expected to open later this month.

Signage has gone up on the Cookies Fresno storefront at Shaw and Blackstone. The dispensary will hosts its grand opening (and CEO meet-and-greet) Dec. 17.

Cookies is the cannabis chain from entrepreneur/rapper Berner (who has long been a fan of Fresno).