SLO picks its three cannabis stores 

San Luis Obispo County's central hub will soon have three cannabis stores to visit.

On March 28, SLO city announced the recipients of its three coveted cannabis dispensary permits: Megan's Organic Market, Natural Healing Center, and Elemental Wellness.

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• File Photo By Jayson Mellom
• YOU'VE BEEN CHOSEN The city of San Luis Obispo announced its three choices for cannabis dispensary operators on March 28.

The choices came out of a two-month review of nine applications, where a panel of city officials from different departments, as well as a consultant, evaluated the shops on a "merit-based" scoring system.

Megan's Organic Market, a former delivery service with a CBD store open in Morro Bay, and Natural Healing Center, a dispensary brand with a shop open in Grover Beach, both received the top scores at 136 points. Elemental Wellness scored next best at 121.6 points.

The point system included the categories of "community benefit, experience, equity and labor, messaging, medical retail commitment, property control, and financial investment"—with an emphasis on local business experience and hiring.

Megan's storefront will open at 280 Higuera St.; Natural Healing Center will be located at 2640 Broad St. (the current location of Mission Thrift); and Elemental Wellness is still identifying a site.

Two other applicants received cannabis permits from the city: Coastal Delivery SLO, for delivery services; and Element 7 SLO, for a micro-business (manufacturing, processing, distribution, and delivery).

The five operating permits that were issued on March 28 are contingent on the applicants passing background checks.

Six hopeful businesses did not receive permits from SLO as part of its first round of accepting applications, which was from Jan. 7 to 29.