Anoka opens Minnesota’s first city‑run cannabis shop

The City of Anoka has opened the Anoka Cannabis Company at 839 East River Road, making it Minnesota’s first government‑run municipal cannabis dispensary and the first such operation in the Twin Cities metro. After a Thursday ribbon‑cutting, the 3,000‑square‑foot store is using a pre‑order system through opening weekend before offering walk‑in sales of flower, vapes, edibles, THC drinks and accessories starting Monday. City officials, who broke ground on the site last May and finished construction in January, say they expect the shop to turn a profit within its first year and plan to plow earnings and local cannabis taxes back into levy relief and new parks and recreation projects for Anoka residents. The Office of Cannabis Management has already received 12 more municipal‑run retail applications statewide, including from metro suburbs such as Blaine, Mounds View, Osseo, St. Anthony Village and Lauderdale, setting up direct competition between public and private operators once more licenses are issued. The model mirrors municipal liquor stores but, unlike booze, cities cannot lock in monopolies on cannabis, so Anoka’s experiment will be watched closely by other Twin Cities councils weighing whether the political and operational risk is worth the potential revenue.