Canna-Buy

The owners of one of the two cannabis retail stores in Madrid are ready to call it quits after about a year of operation. CannaBliss, the Madrid dispensary next to the Old Boarding House Mercantile on the north end of town, is on the market for $599,000. While co-owners Cid and Medina Isbell say they want to pursue a life change, at least one cannabis business expert says now is the time to sell before the canna-bubble inevitably bursts in New Mexico within the next two years.

Cid Isbell tells SFR the couple wants to leave the country.

“My wife and I decided that we’re going to basically change our life and we’re going to move to Mexico,” he says. “So that’s the big driver, right now. We just want a different lifestyle.”

Isbell, who’s lived in Madrid for 20 years, says there’s already been some interest in the business, but that the couple’s real-estate agent has been vetting potential buyers and so far no one has demonstrated they can afford the purchase. The sale would include the distinctive turquoise building on Hwy. 14. Even though the couple won’t have much control over how the business is run after they sell and head south, Isbell says he hopes to see someone carry on their mission to provide cannabis products with all natural ingredients, free from corn syrup, dyes and artificial flavors.

“We’d love to see them maintain our ethics and our feel,” Isbell says. “You know, keep everything really natural and organic, because that’s been our niche.”

Matt Kennicott, co-founder of Weeds, a New Mexico cannabis business consulting company, says sellers have a market advantage right now when it comes to turnkey cannabis opportunities, but he expects the next 12 to 18 months will see lots of turnover.

“At this point, there aren’t a whole lot of businesses selling yet, or even closing their doors. But, a lot of us that are watching the trends think that that’s going to be happening pretty soon, to be perfectly honest,” Kennicott says.

Kennicott says the Isbells’ asking price appears low compared to the “little independent” weed businesses in Albuquerque, some of which, he says, have sold for up to $3 million within the first year of legal sales.

There’s no centralized multiple listing services type of database for cannabis businesses currently on the market, but one website shows a handful of other shops for sale, ranging from $500,000 to $11 million.

Yet, Madrid is a beast of its own.

The owner of Mad Reefer, the Madrid dispensary about 500 yards down Highway 14 from CannaBliss, declined to comment on the sale, but through a spokeswoman, says the small bohemian mountain town with less than 300 residents will probably not take kindly to a corporation with deep pockets and vice versa.

Isbell agrees and says he and his wife hope to attract another “mom and pop” who will fit in with the locals.

“We’re trying not to go with a big chain or something like that,” he says. “I doubt they’d be interested in our location anyway, but you never know.”

Kennicott says anyone still trying to find a spot in the state’s cannabis industry should consider acting quickly, but also deliberately.

“My advice to a lot of our clients is, ‘Get your business fundamentals right, know your target, do the promotional and marketing things that you know how to do and you should be okay,’” he says. “But again, there’s a lot of competition out there. That’s got to be factored in too.”

Buyers beware: State law doesn’t allow transfers of cannabis business licenses, so interested buyers should be prepared to get licensed or already have one.

Cannabis business ownership changes and closures are not new, even in New Mexico where cannabis was fully legalized in 2021 and sales started in 2022. Two major players in the medical cannabis market sold to out of state companies on the heels of the Cannabis Regulation Act. PurLife sold to Nature’s Medicines for an undisclosed amount in October 2021 and R. Greenleaf sold to Schwazze in early 2022. Oso Cannabis and Abide Wellness both closed their Santa Fe locations earlier this year. Even though New Mexico saw more than $32 million in adult-use sales in March, that number dropped slightly in April and sales have hovered around $26 million to $31 million per month since the beginning of the year.

According to the state’s online cannabis portal, CannaBliss has sold more than $320,000 in both medical and recreational-use cannabis since its doors opened last April.