MOLINE, Ill. — The first cannabis dispensary within the City of Moline is officially open for business.
After months of planning, the city celebrated the milestone with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday.
City leaders expect to bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax revenue each year with the industry in town.
The new dispensary, which is owned by Terrace Cannabis, is on Avenue of the Cities, less than a mile east of Interstate 74.
Right now, the City of Moline has four cannabis districts. City leaders needed to update zoning rules for a dispensary in this location. Staff expect that decision will pay off for the business, consumers and the city.
"I'm really excited to see the businesses in this area also thrive from it," Shannon Duncan, the director of retail operations for Terrace Cannabis said. "We're going to pull a lot of traffic over from Iowa, people traveling from you know further away destinations."
"If you look at other communities where this has gone in, there’s people from all walks of life that become consumers and they have varying reasons for it," said Moline Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati. "And so what we can promise is we’ll continue to make sure every business follows the rules and we keep our community safe."
Duncan said this is the first Terrace dispensary in Illinois. It is also the second dispensary in the Quad Cities. Another is being built in Moline right now, but is not owned by Terrace.
Duncan said the dispensary expects some changes in revenue as more dispensaries begin business throughout the city.