Four Oklahoma dispensaries are being forced from their locations by convenience store chain 7-Eleven Incorporated after the company bought buildings rented by the dispensary owners and have declined to renew their leases, KFOR reports. Starla Norwood, a registered nurse that runs Nurses Station dispensary, said the company told her she needed to be out of her current location by the end of the month, giving her just 14 days’ notice.
“What we’re hearing from 7-Eleven is they consider this a criminal activity and money laundering, and there are 300,000 Oklahomans with medical cards, and they seem to think their business is not important.” – Norwood to KFOR
Gayle’s Dispensary owner Christian Oliver said he received no written notice and 7-Eleven didn’t make any “attempt at dialogue.” He said that the company “does not want to lease to the cannabis industry.
“There wasn’t any kind of approach to investigate it. It was just like ‘nope, we’re not doing it, get out’,” he said in the report, noting that he was given until July 31 to vacate the premises.
7-Eleven Inc., which is based in Dallas, Texas, reportedly bought the real estate – an independent 7-Eleven franchise in Oklahoma – in January. That same month, the property manager had indicated in an email to the tenants that “on day one nothing changes.”
John Koumbis, owner of JKJ Processing Inc., called 7-Eleven’s decision to force the dispensaries out with little notice “utterly ridiculous.” He told the Oklahoma Chronic that company representatives said, “they’re not for marijuana” and “they don’t believe in it” and would not be renewing any cannabis industry leases in buildings they own.
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