Green-Theory held an official grand opening for its second location near the Spring District from July 14-16.

A soft opening was held on June 19, however, Green-Theory wanted to make their new presence known near the Spring District area. The grand opening consisted of several local food and drink vendors, such as Black Tie Espresso, WiseGuy Food Truck and The Cool Bus Ice Cream truck. In addition, many of their suppliers, such as Happy Apple, Gabriel Cannabis and Northwest Cannabis Solutions, were on-site throughout the day so customers could socialize and learn more about some of the store’s most popular products.

Store manager and operations manager Ari Emadi was excited about the grand opening.

“It was very exciting to actually get customers in here. We were so busy,” Emadi said.

Green-Theory was the first recreational marijuana store in Bellevue when it debuted in Downtown Bellevue in October of 2014.

Since then, Green-Theory opened a stand-alone location in Factoria in June and has now opened another store near the Spring District.

Emadi explained that while the two stores carry almost the same stock, there are a few differences in what products each store carries.

“We have a slightly different product mix between the two stores. We typically have the same brands, but this store has a couple more of the higher-end brands. We’re skewing more toward the higher-end and medical market,” he said.

Green-Theory has staff available to meet each customer at any knowledge level of cannabis. Emadi added that getting medical consultants on staff is in progress.

“We are going to be getting our medical consultants certified, meaning that we would have people on staff who would be able to help medical patients,” he said.

Green-Theory has received criticism from some members of the community on the grounds of having a marijuana store in Bellevue; however, they have worked to meet all rules and regulations to have the store.

“[We worked] to make sure that we were doing everything correctly, that we were following the rules and that we were not creating a bad look for us or the marijuana industry in Bellevue,” Emadi said. “We know there’s an eye on us, so we [go] the extra mile to make sure we’re doing everything by-the-book.”

Green-Theory’s store is located near the Spring District at 1940 124th Ave. NE and the Factoria store is located at 12827 SE 40th Place.