Growing cannabis retailer opens store in Tampa area

There’s a new pot dealer in Lutz.

Sunnyside, a chain of medical cannabis dispensaries, has opened a new retail store in a former bank building at 21708 State Road 54.

This is the fourth store the chain has opened in the Tampa market. It has 22 across the state — including stores in Cape Coral, Sarasota and Bonita Springs — and 56 across the country.

The stores are part of Illinois-based Cresco Labs Inc., a “vertically integrated multistate cannabis” operator.

The Lutz store will carry branded products including liquid live resin vapes and live resin concentrates as well as premium, hand-trimmed flower and live rosin solvent less concentrates; flower, concentrates and vapes; tinctures, oil syringes and topicals from Remedi; and Sunnyside Chews and Mints edibles.

Rolling papers, lighters and books will also be available.

The sale of cannabis, once the purview of Camaro-driving high school kids in jean jackets, is now big business in Florida. According to a January report from New Cannabis Ventures, which tracks the industry, while sales fell 2.7% in October, they are up 37.4% to $196.1 million from a year ago.

The store will serve patients who have a state-issued medical card.