Broadway Cannabis Market will open a new location in the former Tub and Tan building at 8028 SE Stark Street. The Oregon marijuana dispensary chain signed a five-year lease for the Montavilla storefront in a building currently listed for sale. The company’s owner, Tony Birch, is recognized for introducing an upscale design to the ubiquitous landscape of pot shops across the city, with a notable investment in downtown Portland. He now intends to bring that same model into Montavilla’s historic downtown, with Broadway Cannabis Market’s seventh store expected to open sometime in early 2026.
The location ultimately met several requirements sought by the company when choosing a site for its new storefront. One factor the business owner looks for is a desirable commercial area that may have some underutilized storefronts. “I’m born and raised in Portland and so very familiar with Montavilla in general, and we’ve been keeping our eye on that little downtown strip specifically for quite some time,” said Birch. However, finding available space never surfaced in his research until a chance meeting presented this off-market opportunity. Birch frequents real estate networking events and bumped into the person trying to sell the old Tub and Tan building. “I ended up looking into the property and realized it actually meets all the zoning requirements and the setback requirements, as the land use [restrictions] for cannabis are pretty specific,” explained Birch. Before signing the lease, he visited the area and spoke with local business people to gauge how well his shop would integrate into the community on SE Stark Street. Birch said people seemed generally responsive to the idea of marijuana sales in the area and noted that shops on the street tend to close down around 10 p.m. “We have to close by 10, so it’s great that [Montavilla] wasn’t necessarily a late-night crowd. We have downtown Portland locations, and some of those are disadvantageous because there’s a big 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. crowd that we don’t capitalize on,” explained Birch. Those factors, along with the storefront’s proximity to bars and restaurants and the neighborhood’s general walkability, made it an exciting spot for the chain to expand to.
The in-house design team at Broadway Cannabis Market is reworking the former hot-tubbing and tanning building to optimize customer flow and create back-of-house space that supports store operations. Birch noted that they differ from other marijuana dispensaries with a more open frontage during business hours. “We’re going to design it in a way that’s not ominous or intimidating from a passerby’s perspective. All the windows will be wide open, looking right into the business. We’re not going to have frosted glass or anything. I hate seeing dispensaries where they’re all covered up, it’s not very attractive.” At night, store staff will close external pulldown metal shutters covering the windows. They chose that security measure to avoid using bars in the windows, which Birch says makes places look like a jail and implies that the neighborhood is unsafe. Beyond that, they do not employ other visible security measures or security staff.
They plan to paint the building’s exterior black with a botanical leaf design, similar to other locations under the Broadway Cannabis Market brand. “It’s hand-painted. We’ve got two muralists that we’ve used in the past, Portland-based guys,” said Birch. “It’s very clean and modern, but also artistic, which I hope the neighborhood’s going to like. It’s always been well-received.” Except for paint and signage updates, the exterior will remain essentially unchanged, keeping the same doors and windows. Birch explained that the earthy artistic themes of the mural will extend into the shop. “The Broadway brand is grassroots, Oregon-vibed, Portland-vibed, wood tones, grass tones, neutral colors, artistic feeling on the inside. We’ll [display] poppy-art installations on the interior of the building that give a nice artistic feeling to it.”
Attention to the retail space is almost as crucial to the company as its products, stemming from the founder’s background. Tony Birch entered the Cannabis industry through solar power. “My degree’s in renewable energy, and I did that for a handful of years after college and then made the switch to cannabis,” recalled Birch. Around 2014, he transitioned to cannabis growing, employing sustainable farming practices such as recycling rainwater and nutrient-rich water for reuse on the crops. They also used energy-efficient lighting mounted on light movers to reduce power usage, utilizing fewer fixtures that were repositioned over plants as needed, rather than lighting the entire facility. His eye towards environmental concerns followed in his switch to cannabis retail through the responsible sourcing of products. “We prioritize farms that have an eye on renewables. There are a lot of Oregon farms that are very pro-renewables, pro-recycling of their water, pro-living soil beds where they’re not even using [added] nutrients on the regular. We thankfully have great relationships with them, and we prioritize those companies,” said Birch.
Birch explained that Broadway Cannabis Market uses well-informed staff, upscale store design, and competitively priced products to differentiate itself from other operators in the market. They primarily offer the standard dried and cured buds of the cannabis plant referred to as flower in the industry, but have a wide range of other products beyond that that contain elements of the plant. “Our number one selling category is flower, classic flower. Beyond that, it’s pre-rolls,” said Birch. Sister brands of the company manufacture those pre-rolled, ready-to-smoke marijuana cigarettes within a facility in Tigard, Oregon. Vaping cartridges used in electronic cigarettes account for over 20% of store sales, and he expects this to continue in a high-traffic area like Montavilla. They also sell Cannabis edibles. “Gummies are king. Everyone loves their gummies. But beyond that, baked goods, and a lot of cookie options. We’re seeing a lot of interest in the ratios,” explained Birch. Those products contain cannabinol (CBN) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in a variable ratio, producing differing effects. “For the people who want the sleepy time stuff, CBN is the cannabinoid that aids in sleep. So we’re increasingly stocking more of [CBN heavy products] and some other ratio gummies that are not just the pure THC,” He notes that this is indicative of people shifting from wanting to only get high on the products to a growing number of customers who are using it for sleep aids and other wellness activities…