The first medical cannabis dispensary to open in Chicago, Dispensary 33, is now part of six retail stores in Illinois to become the first employee-owned dispensaries. Along with the two Dispensary 33 stores, four Spark’d dispensaries combined into one holding company, and Thursday, Illinois approved the sale of that company to a trust owned by dispensary employees, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The trust’s purpose was to fund an Employee Stock Ownership Plan in order to purchase the company’s stock and give ownership to the employees. An Employee Stock Ownership Plan is a retirement plan where a company contributes its stock to a trust, which then holds the stock for the benefit of its employees, allowing them to gain ownership in the company and the potential to grow long-term wealth. The six dispensaries include Dispensary 33 Andersonville and West Loop, as well as Spark’d dispensaries in Richmond, Winthrop Harbor, Wicker Park, and South Wabash Avenue in Chicago. The six retail stores combine for around 200 employees.

Dispensary 33 can be found on Instagram @dispensary33.chi and @dispensary33.farm, Facebook, LinkedIn, X @Dispensary33. Spark’d can be found on Instagram @sparkdcannabis and @sparkdcrystallake, LinkedIn, X @sparkdcannabis, and Facebook @spark.d.CrystalLake and here. For more Illinois cannabis industry news, subscribe to Illinois News Joint’s newsletter here.

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