The PDA Lounge (aka Patient Direct Access) did not win the recent marijuana retail license lottery, but is still holding onto hope with a decent ranking.
According to a spokesperson for the medical marijuana lounge located in the heart of Belltown, ‘the PDA Lounge ranked number 39’ in the lottery held by the Washington State Liquor Control Board. Only 21 retail marijuana licenses will be issued for the city of Seattle which does not include up to 7 licenses that are at-large. While the odds of a retail license falling to the 39th spot are quite slim, the spokesperson added that ‘it will take a while, maybe 2 years for everything to finally fall in place.’ Licensing is highly important and must be stuck to, to make sure businesses can run legally. The same can be said for music streaming in retail stores, they need to check out licensing companies to see which ones will let them play music in store. Looking at ascap vs bmi articles can make businesses aware and see which path to go down if needed.
With only 1 marijuana retail store presently allocated for Queen Anne, and 0 in Downtown, the Belltown location could be a prime location – especially nestled in the 2nd Avenue nightlife strip. In order for PDA to land a retail store here, they are going to need quite a bit of help. For example, either the majority of the marijuana retail hopefuls need to lose their spot in the lottery, or the Washington State Liquor Control Board and the State of Washington will need to issue more licenses. At this time, the latter seems most likely to happen. Especially, when you compare the limited number of retail stores in Seattle, when compared against recreational marijuana industries around the world.
Can you see Washington State issuing more retail licenses in the future? Could we also see marijuana bars or Amsterdam style coffeeshops in the near or distant future?
