For Kristina Chavez, Co-Owner of the Showgrow dispensary in Long Beach, a deeply rooted connection to the community in one of Los Angeles’ most quirky and diverse beach towns is a requirement, rather than a goal. This is part of the reason why she, and her partners decided to buy-back-the-block and repurchase their former dispensary near the traffic circle in Long Beach.
“We want to get it back to what it was,” Chavez told Joey Brabo during a recent episode of The Respect My Region podcast, before adding, “You know, we miss being community based, culture based.”
With the community in mind, not only has Chavez and her team made it a priority to cater to the diversity that thrives in the city, they are renewing their efforts to put a spotlight back on the parts of Long Beach, and the people within it, that make it such a unique destination. As a result, Chavez and the team are making moves to bring back their premiere cannabis, music and arts festival Cozy Sesh, while also hitting the ground running with new initiatives designed to be the great equalizer in an economy where income disparity continues to affect people everyday.
“Gosh, do we miss those Cozy [CozySesh] sessions,” Chavez said. “Hopefully we’ll get the shop back up and running to what it was. And yeah, we definitely have plans to bring all the good vibes back that we had. Our beach cleanups. We have a current community fund that we’re doing in partnership with High and Dry Collective. We’re collecting women’s sanitary products to help combat, period poverty.”
Showgrow Dispensary in Long Beach Supports The Culture and The Community
ShowGrow is also avidly investing in supporting women-owned cannabis brands by hand-picking brands to flood the shelves of the store—giving patrons a sense of equality and increased variety, all at once.
“Some of our women owned brands, I would say Poet that is probably our best mover, best seller,” Chavez revealed. “It’s beautiful sungrown, sun and earth certified cannabis grown up in Emerald Triangle. It’s amazing. We also have Pure Beauty. For our vape, we have Rove, of course. Shout out Jo. She’s a powerhouse in the industry.”
In addition to strongly representing for women in cannabis, the ShowGrow dispensary in Long Beach is making sure each and every group of recreational users from concentrate enthusiast to edible loyalist and traditional flower consumers have quality options to choose from each and every time they step into the dispensary.
“So we just brought on Barrett Farms, we have some Sluggers too, we also have Fresh Press in here—we got the the cool little buzz balls and everything like that,” Chavez said of the concentrates in house.
Concerning edibles, she added, “I would say our biggest mover is Froot—it’s really good price point and very potent.”
Chavez continued, “Our other brands that do really good, I would say Kanha. I mean, they’re an icon. And then drinks, St. Ives.”
And when it comes to that good ‘ole flower, ShowGrow is doing its job to remain true to the culture of the city by delivering strains that have become synonymous with the city of Long Beach.
“Long Beach is pretty OG,” Chavez said. “So, we see a lot of indica moving all the time. And OGs. Whereas, you know, the sativa strains, they move but not as quickly. We’ll probably get two to three times indica versus like a order of sativa for any given brand.”
While it’s clear Chavez and her partners at ShowGrow have a long road of reconstruction and reconnection ahead, one thing that remains a constant through it all is their dedication to Cannabis for a cause through intentional action. And for Chavez, that’s what will ultimately power them through their rigorous changes ahead.
“We’re lucky to have been one of the industry leaders and really shape, I would say, the culture of Cannabis,” Chavez said.
She continued, “Like when we would have our stash boxes back in the day, Mikey, he was our marketing creative director of awesomeness, and he would really look for local artists to showcase and they would design, you know, a Long Beach box with collabs of ShowGrow. We’re about the culture and about cultivating change, doing all the great community stuff. Cannabis for a cause. We really just want to like, I always say destigmatize cannabis, you know, and show you, like, I’m a mom and I’m a cool mom and responsible mom and you know anyone could smoke cannabis and be like positive and a great person in society.”
Check out the full episode in the video above.
For more information on the Showgrow dispensary in Long Beach, visit their website or subscribe to the official RespectMyRegion.com newsletter and podcast.
