Canna West Seattle
WEST SEATTLE
Maryam Mirnateghi’s pot shop Canna West Seattle is housed in a 1920s Craftsman-style home on California Avenue Southwest, and it is worlds away from those impersonal pot shops. Before the shop opened in 2016, Mirnateghi spoke about her vision of the place: “It’s going to be clean and classy, but it’s not going to be pretentious. It’s going to be really cozy and very different from the other stores we have in the city.” (ANA SOFIA KNAUF)
Cannabis City
SODO
Ah, Cannabis City, Seattle’s first pot shop. Or, as they’ve dubbed themselves, “the pot shop heard around the world.” Dr. James Lathrop, the shop’s owner, is whip-crack smart when it comes to cannabis. He’s a doctor of nursing practice, and I’d argue that he’s more knowledge- able about pot and its various medicinal applications than a traditional allopathic practitioner. They have more than 100 varieties of pre-roll, and they are located a mere one block from the Sodo light rail station. (TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE)
Dockside Cannabis
SODO
Dockside’s Sodo shop is emblematic of the new direction in pot retailing brought on by legalization: big, open floor plans, lots of light, and classy decor. Dockside’s got all that, and a cannabis museum to boot. That’s right: An entire corner of their store is devoted to the history and science of cannabis, including selections from the Wirtshafter collection, Ohio cannabis activist Don Wirtshafter’s hoard of vintage cannabis medicine bottles. It sounds bland when I put it that way, but it’s awesome, a fascinating physical reminder that pot used to be both legal and benign. There are also locations in Ballard, Green Lake, and Shoreline. (TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE)
Have a Heart
DOWNTOWN/BELLTOWN
Patrons are greeted with an enormous, LED-lit joint sculpture upon entering, as well as a chandelier with a quarter pound of Grandaddy Kush encased in glass. If that’s not enough to awe you, there’s the 50-foot “Wall of Weed.” It’s also close to Pike Place Market—nothing beats smoking a pre-roll on the waterfront (just don’t let cops see you), watching the ferries roll in for a bit, and then noshing your way through the market’s vast array of edible offerings. There are locations in Greenwood and Fremont, too. (TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE)
Lux Pot Shop
BALLARD, LAKE CITY, BELLTOWN
Lux unofficially bills itself as the “Nordstrom of pot shops.” Officially, their tagline is “Community. Culture. Cannabis.” Their store is objectively gorgeous, and the service is definitely Nordstrom-esque. The budtenders, many of whom are transplants from more traditional service-industry jobs, all seem genuinely happy to be here, and genuinely excited about pot. Lux is also quite conveniently located next to many of Ballard’s cultural and culinary activities. They have locations in Belltown and Lake City, too. (TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE)
The Reef Cannabis
CAPITOL HILL
You’ll know you’re at The Reef when you see a glowing building featuring an underwater mural with a giant portrait of Jacque Cousteau on its side. Once you pass through the glass doors, you’ll be hit with bright lights, the music that the kids are listening to these days, and hundreds of cannabis products, including a wall of pre-rolls, all kinds of flower, vapes and glassware, oils, edibles, topicals, and more. Real estate investors Adam Simon and Aaron Bennett own the place, and in interviews Simon says he doesn’t just want to sell pot, he wants to give back to the community. To that end, the company says it donates 5% of its profits to one of three nonprofits. You vote on where the money goes at the end of your transaction. Staff here is super friendly and happy to help on your terms, but if you want to cut down on human interactions, then you can order online and/or on the store’s app. (RICH SMITH)
Ruckus Recreational
CAPITOL HILL AND FREMONT
The space is tiny, but the aesthetics are on point: walls filled with paintings, drawings, old timey portraits, and collage art, plus cabinets stocked with curios sure to delight and beguile. The cannabis products are in two countertop glass cabinets that look like they used to hold rare butterfly specimens. The space feels almost like a closet filled with magic. But they have everything you need. Not only do they have a nice range of products and price points, there’s always good music playing and the staff is warm and unpretentious, often wearing plaid, unlike the uniforms you find at some other stores. (TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE)
Shawn Kemp’s Cannabis
BELLTOWN AND SODO
Six-time NBA All-Star and legendary Seattle Supersonics power forward Shawn “Reign Man” Kemp opened the first Shawn Kemp’s Cannabis location on October 30, 2020, along with industry veterans Matt Schoenlein and Ramsey Hamide (two of the co-founders of Main Street Marijuana). In February 2023 Kemp and Co. opened a second location in Sodo in a cool old 3,500-square-foot bank building. Kemp may be a minority owner (just 5%) but images of his iconic dunk form and game-worn jerseys decorate both shops. (EVEROUT STAFF)
