Green Valley Dispensary, owned by Alicia Douglas, will soon open at 323 Union Avenue, in the space recently vacated by New2Knox. She hopes to have the shop operational by early December.
Originally from South Georgia, Alicia moved to Gatlinburg with her family in 1995 and attended middle and high school in Sevier County, graduating from Sevier County High in 2002. Her father still works, and her mother retired after working in the bakery in Walmart. She soon married, eventually having two children. Her husband had immigrated from Israel at age 15 and was running a t-shirt shop when they met. In 2005 they opened their first business together, a t-shirt shop in Cherokee, North Carolina, which they continue to own and operate.
They eventually opened an additional t-shirt shop in Cherokee. A trip to a trade show in Vegas in 2018, proved pivotal to Alicia’s next move. With the intention of buying products for their t-shirt shops, Alicia became intrigued that half the show was devoted to hemp products. She spent “three days educating myself with the vendors. I was intrigued with it as a natural alternative to medications for sleep, for anxiety, for PTSD, to help lower blood sugar levels in diabetics and so much more.” She also realized much of it could be legally sold in Tennessee.
Despite not knowing where she would open her shop, she came home “with ten thousand dollars in product.” The store would become the first of its kind in Sevier County. She rented a 600 square foot space in a shopping center in Pigeon Forge “and in less than six months I had to break the wall and take the space next door because it took off.” She was learning more herself, as well as introducing the product to customers. “When they came back with their success stories on how it changed them, it was heart-warming to see that some of them could stop their opiates or narcotics by taking something natural.”
In 2019 she opened a second location in Pigeon Forge and eventually added two more and has also opened a shop in Sevierville and two shops in Cherokee. The Sevier County shops operate as “Green Valley CBD,” while the Cherokee locations are “Native Cloud CBD.” The Knoxville location will be her sixth in Tennessee. Meanwhile, she and her husband now own four t-shirt shops. In their spare time, they operate two short-term rentals and several long-term rentals. She laughed and said they have lots of good employees and “we work really well as a team.”
They’ve seen a lot of changes in the law over those few years, with various twists on CBD and THCA. She expects more to come, but she feels she is well positioned to continue to succeed. She said that efforts are underway to outlaw THCA in Tennessee, and it worries her that it will simply move that portion of the customer base back into the black market where products are not regulated.
She prides herself on customer service and product knowledge and she said that’s what she hopes sets them apart from other, similar stores. She said expect to find a wide range of products and someone to greet you and guide you through what is available. She said she’s also happy to track down any requested product that she doesn’t have in stock. A loyalty program offers discounts for repeat customers and residents receive 10% off.
She said the lines of products that she offers have been carefully chosen and she tries to find the purest products offered on the market, avoiding unnecessary additives. While she doesn’t manufacture any of the products, she said she is very selective in the companies she deals with, wanting to offer the highest quality possible. She will offer “several different types of flower . . . different types of gummies . . . mushrooms that are legal.” She also carries a small selection of nicotine, THC, and CBD vapes. She also carries rolling papers and other products.
She said she really didn’t know what to expect when she started. The Sevier County and Cherokee economies, driven by tourism, deliver in a big way during summer, but winter tends to be very slow. That has not been her experience with the CBD shops, leading her to realize there is a large local demand that drives sales.
Merchandise is already purchased and being prepared, and hiring has begun, so they should be ready soon. She said sales and traffic will dictate hours in the long term, but they will likely open from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm, seven days a week to start. You can see a complete list of their inventory online.