KALAMAZOO, Mich. — It's the first of its kind in the city of Kalamazoo, the only recreational marijuana drive-thru just recently opening its doors.
Compassionate Care By Design is tucked away in an alley with a pharmacy-like drive-thru where both patients and recreational marijuana users can pull up to pick up their online orders.
"We are the first place in southwest Michigan to offer a drive-thru option which is great. We are offering medical products to recreational products," said the Compassionate Care By Design Store Manager Vanessa McKenzie.
Compassionate Care By Design's drive-thru first opened in June by only to medical marijuana users.
Now, recreational users have the opportunity to use it too, but it's not like your standard drive-thru.
"With a fast food drive-thru, typically you can pull in, place your order right there then pull up to the window and pay. Here we would like you to go ahead and place your order ahead of time very much like you would place an order at a pharmacy to pickup a prescription in their drive thru," said McKenzie.
Kalamazoo was a bit behind some other cities in allowing recreational facilities to open. Businesses weren't able to get licensed until July 1, 2020.
Now that its open, it's offering customers a contactless experience.
"The order gets placed. We then send you a text. It’s done via online through our website to place your order. We will let you know when your order is ready. Then you can come to the location to the drive-thru to pick it up," said McKenzie.
Of course, they said safety is always a concern to make sure both the customer and workers feel comfortable.
"We do have a lot of security measures in place. We have cameras on at all times covering the whole area and other measures in place," said Compassionate Care By Design's Retail Operations Manager Christy Chambers.
Compassionate Care By Design is open every day of the week with shorter hours on Sunday. It is located at 4126 Stadium Drive in Kalamazoo next to Burger King.
