# IGrow: Walmart of weed opens in Oakland



## FruityBud (Jan 29, 2010)

Call it the Walmart of weed.

In a 15,000-square-foot warehouse just down the road from the Oakland Airport, an entrepreneur is opening a one-stop shop for medicinal marijuana cultivation that's believed to be the largest in the state.

Don't know the first thing about growing pot? The folks at iGrow have a doctor on site to get you a cannabis card and sell you all the necessary equipment for indoor, hydroponic cultivation - from pumps, nutrients and tubing to lights and fans.

Don't know how to set it up? For a fee, on-site technicians will show you how to build it in your home and even maintain it weekly.

"A lot of people don't know much about growing pot," said Dhar Mann, 25, the owner, who stood in front of an array of Ikea-like displays, showing different rooms of cannabis cultivation systems. "Since there are no full-service resources like us, they take risks, like electrical fires."

This is hardly a fringe business. When iGrow opens today, at least three City Council members will attend. So will most of the leaders of the cannabis industry in Oakland, a city long at the vanguard of medicinal marijuana.

Today's opening also comes on a key day for proponents of a statewide ballot measure to allow recreational marijuana. They plan to turn in about twice as many signatures as needed to qualify the measure for the November ballot.

The supporters of that measure are being led by Richard Lee, owner of Oaksterdam University, an Oakland-based business that trains people for work in the cannabis industry.

The medicinal marijuana world is still unsettled. Cities from Los Angeles to Berkeley are grappling with how to permit and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries.

Oakland, where voters last summer agreed to have the city to tax and regulate "cannabis businesses," has allowed only four licensed dispensaries.

Though iGrow provides all the supplies and know-how for cannabis cultivation, they don't sell the seedlings - only dispensaries can. And even some of the vendors tread a delicate line.

Gabriel Goodhart, the owner of Easy Feed Systems based in West Oakland, was setting up one of the system displays at iGrow on Wednesday. His company has an explicit policy of not setting up any system where marijuana is visible when they show up - or even mentioning the word "marijuana."

"Liability is shifting," said Goodhart, a libertarian who is a registered Republican. "A small business like ours can't take the risk."

But, he believes, the issue is a moral one.

"It's not fair to medical patients to put them in a gray area where they have to be involved in criminal activity to stay healthy," he said. "That's like not having health insurance."

The cost of creating your own cultivation system or relying solely on a dispensary is vast.

At a dispensary, a patient might spend $120 a week for a quarter-ounce of marijuana.

However, it might cost $1,000 to set up an eight-plant system, said Zeta Ceti, one of iGrow's "indoor growing technicians." But in the course of a year, they might only use half of their harvest and be able to sell the remaining 3 pounds for $12,000 to a dispensary.

*hxxp://tinyurl.com/ya3ngrh*


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## kasgrow (Jan 29, 2010)

Here is a link to a video of the shop. They are supposed to have a full time doctor to write pot recommendations. 

hxxp://www.ktvu.com/news/22365385/detail.html


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## kasgrow (Jan 29, 2010)

You can buy a garden setup. Pay their people to set it up for you. They teach you how to grow. Get your recommendation. Go over to a dispensary in town to buy your clones. Grow your meds and hope nobody talks about where you live or that they aren't a fed sting operation. It would be a cool place to check out though.


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## cmd420 (Jan 30, 2010)

I literally won't even go on that side of town...

are you kidding me?

There are so many things wrong with this it makes me want to throw up 

Nothing like the greedy taking advantage of the greedy and stupid...

I need to take a shower


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## mr.greengenes (Jan 31, 2010)

There is a video story on CNN too. Yeah, Oakland can be a rough town and I suppose this guy won't be the first entrepeneur to be called a rapacious, capitalist-pig opportunist preying on the sick, lame and ignorant. I like the idea that one can go to the store and talk to people about growning cannabis without fear of being asked to leave the store. It happened to me and my wife when we first started out learning about the hobby before I became a legal MMJ card holder. The dude is taking a chance to provide a service, create new jobs and further the accessability of patients to grow their own meds. It's all legal and above board. Try using hemp based soaps with that shower.


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## Cowboy (Jan 31, 2010)

If you are going to Oakland then you need to go to the real place.

*Oaksterdam*


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## NorCalHal (Jan 31, 2010)

Oaksterdam??? Why is that "the real place"? They don't sell equipment and rob folks on how to grow? Plus the owner rapes folks for clones?


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## Cowboy (Jan 31, 2010)

NorCalHal said:
			
		

> Oaksterdam??? Why is that "the real place"? They don't sell equipment and rob folks on how to grow? Plus the owner rapes folks for clones?



Have you had a bad experience there? if so I understand your feelings. I Had my own bad experiences and don't go back.
I only noted it because the founder has worked hard to ligaliez Mj here in California. and yes it will be big bucks for him if it does pass.
#1 I would not go there because it is to far.
#2 I don't go to the east bay for any thing, hate the place.


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## Old_SSSC_Guy (Jan 31, 2010)

i saw the story on CNN and had to shake my head. that place had less product on the shelves than any hobby grow shop!  it's like growing 5 plants in a 50,000 sq ft warehouse and claiming you have the world's largest grow. gimme a break.

funnier yet was reading the other thread here about AN vs Sunlight - and Sunlight claiming they will not let their product be sold any place that says its for pot -- yet the only lights shown in the CNN video for this "marijuana growing store" were in Sunlight boxes. the Sunlight logo was shown more than any other...  hahahahhahahahaha...


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## Cowboy (Jan 31, 2010)

Old_SSSC_Guy said:
			
		

> i saw the story on CNN and had to shake my head. that place had less product on the shelves than any hobby grow shop!  it's like growing 5 plants in a 50,000 sq ft warehouse and claiming you have the world's largest grow. gimme a break.
> 
> funnier yet was reading the other thread here about AN vs Sunlight - and Sunlight claiming they will not let their product be sold any place that says its for pot -- yet the only lights shown in the CNN video for this "marijuana growing store" were in Sunlight boxes. the Sunlight logo was shown more than any other...  hahahahhahahahaha...



:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:


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## greenfriend (Feb 1, 2010)

lol you ppl that are afraid to go to "that side of town", do you even live in Oakland?  "that part of town" is in an industrial area well outside 'the killing zone' and other high gang areas.  and you not going there in the middle of night...grow some balls already

and if you want to go to a GOOD hydro store where they'll cut deals, give advice, and have everything you could need to grow dank bud, take your business to Berkeley's Secret Garden - I've been a customer there since i started growing i theres no need to go anywhere else


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## Cowboy (Feb 1, 2010)

greenfriend said:
			
		

> lol you ppl that are afraid to go to "that side of town", do you even live in Oakland?  "that part of town" is in an industrial area well outside 'the killing zone' and other high gang areas.  and you not going there in the middle of night...grow some balls already
> 
> and if you want to go to a GOOD hydro store where they'll cut deals, give advice, and have everything you could need to grow dank bud, take your business to Berkeley's Secret Garden - I've been a customer there since i started growing i theres no need to go anywhere else



No thanks, been there done that and got the lousy T shirt. And don't want to go back.


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## cmd420 (Feb 2, 2010)

1.I live in SF...

2.I have nothing but love for all parts of the East Bay

What I meant by saying that I wouldn't go "to that side of town" was simply because...

_*what a freakin potential bust!!*_

It could be in the nicest neighborhood, I still wouldn't go anywhere near a store where I am pegged as a grower from as far as the eye can see...the moment I go near the place....no matter what I say...

get pulled over on the way from...

get spotted by whoever cares to look...

I support Berkely Indoor Garden myself..I take a trip over the bridge at least once a month to visit my friends there and pick up a few things..(they even repair ballasts)

*That's what I'm saying....the little hydro shops (BIG and Plant It Earth ion SF) have been terrific...*

they have even sent me away empty handed but with knowledge instead of products I didn't need...

why do we need a "Walmart of Weed"?

_*we don't!!!!*_


*Disclaimer: I do not work, nor have I ever worked for or represented any store mentioned in this post ...*

*I do recommend them though...*


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## chuckdee123 (Feb 2, 2010)

greenfriend said:
			
		

> and if you want to go to a GOOD hydro store where they'll cut deals, give advice, and have everything you could need to grow dank bud, take your business to Berkeley's Secret Garden



that's my spot too. good folks


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## 420 Murder Ln Garberville (Feb 2, 2010)

Bigger= less personal customer service (think Home Depot vs Ace Hardware).


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## Shockeclipse (Feb 2, 2010)

Who knows, maybe this will actually be a great place to shop... Aside from the attention you bring to yourself and all.  Look at it from this standpoint, ten years ago would there be a giant warehouse grow store popping up?  It's a step, just hope they give a tiny crap about what they are doing.  And who knows, maybe his being a big store will attract people who are maybe interested but nervous aboun going to smaller shops?  I'm just saying, I would be elated if something remotely like this was happeneing here.


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## NorCalHal (Feb 2, 2010)

Berkeley secret garden is overpriced fellas.

If you go right around the corner on 5th street...there is a LONG time store called Environmental Concepts. LOW key, to say the least.
Prices cheaper then anywhere else I have seen.

Besides...that purple building hurts my eyes...lol.


EC for the win.


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## greenfriend (Feb 2, 2010)

NorCalHal said:
			
		

> Berkeley secret garden is overpriced fellas.
> 
> If you go right around the corner on 5th street...there is a LONG time store called Environmental Concepts. LOW key, to say the least.
> Prices cheaper then anywhere else I have seen.
> ...


 
thanks for the tip Hal, never even knew it was there


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## NorCalHal (Feb 3, 2010)

Let me know what u think Green...the owners are super cool and I have been dealing with them long before MMJ was even a term.


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