On the ground at Pure Roots' grand opening

Last week, I attended the grand opening of Pure Roots’ first Lansing location, at 515 N. Larch St. And while some locals might question if yet another dispensary is needed, this top-notch pot shop’s customer-centric and transparent approach to cannabis is a puff of fresh air. 

The 4,000-square-foot retail store, formerly Ellis Cleaning Co., is connected to a 16,000-square-foot small batch cultivation and processing operations. The retail layout is virtually all glass. Patrons can see everything, including fellow shoppers, from the waiting room. It had strong Apple Store vibes: clean and modern.  

The “pure” in Pure Roots comes from the company’s pledge to never sell remediated cannabis. To save you the Google search, “remediated cannabis” is marijuana that failed regulatory testing for contaminants and is then treated to remove mold, yeast or other microbial grossness you don’t want to smoke.  

Pure Roots sorts all of its cannabis strains into four categories based on that specific strain’s effects: Rest, Relief, Revive and Reflect.

For each of its three locations (including Ann Arbor and Center Line), Pure Roots sends an employee to tour and pre-screen facilities, ensuring the potential partner doesn’t have any remediation machines. So, if you’re looking for a clean smoke, Pure Roots delivers quality flower every time.  

“The quality of our flower, the shopping experience and our budtenders’ knowledge sets us apart,” said Reni George, Pure Roots’ vice president of governmental affairs. 

Speaking of flower, for customer clarity, Pure Roots sorts all of its cannabis strains into four categories based on that specific strain’s effects: Rest, Relief, Revive and Reflect. According to my helpful budtender, here’s what they each do. 

Rest strains help you catch some Zs, Relief strains help with muscle relaxation and pain relief. Revive offers strains that give you that euphoric mood boost needed on rough days (or any day). Reflect strains offer a cerebral head-high ideal for creative folks. I sniffed the Dosilato x Slurricane buds in their Relief category and was blasted with sweet smells of berries and lavender (shoutout to linalool, my favorite terpene — love you, girl!). Most eighths from these categories went for around $20-$30 each, perfect for folks like me who ball on a budget.   

For those preferring to eat their cannabis, Pure Roots also offers an array of edibles from brands like Dixie, Wyld, Choice, Mojo, Monster Xtracts and On the Green, to name only a few. I picked up some of Choice’s chocolate-covered pretzels and some of the blue raspberry gummy coins from Platinum, but I will return for their Wyld Gummy lineup.  

There are also plenty of options for the dabbers and vape heads: Sauce and Crude Boy disposables, Stiiizy and Select pods and carts, Element cured and live resins, and so much more. Can’t decide between flower and concentrate? Have both with one of the many infused preroll and blunt options from Glorious Cannabis Co.  

With so many options, it’s easy for even the most experienced cannabis connoisseur to get overwhelmed. Thankfully, Pure Roots has a solution. After a quick ID check, customers are buzzed into the vast and colorful waiting room where touchscreen point-of-sale stations line the back wall. Customers can log into one of these stations by entering their birthdate and phone number.  

New customers are asked various introductory questions to identify tolerance levels, like how they consume cannabis and how often they consume cannabis. From there, the app does its magic. 

“Using the iPad app we created, our system will match them with products available in our inventory with the appropriate level of THC,” George said. “Beyond that, our budtenders will also ask them questions, make recommendations, and give information. A customized budtender guided tour will give customers shopping for Cannabis and CBD a unique and world-class experience.” 

Clients can then choose whether they want to shop on the app and check out from the lobby or have a consultation where a Pure Roots budtender delivers a more classic dispensary experience. Either way, you shop, the app helps keep the customers informed and helps the budtender make better recommendations. 

If you’re interested in checking out Pure Roots for yourself, it’s open for in-store shopping and curbside pickup and offers delivery seven days a week.  

Hours are 10 a.m.-9 p.m. For a full menu and specials or to schedule a delivery or pick-up, visit pureroots.com.