Ascend Opens Adult Use Marijuana Store In Chicago Ridge

CHICAGO RIDGE, IL — Get ready to ascend in Chicago Ridge. Ascend Wellness Holdings LLC, a cannabis operator with several locations in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio, opened the south suburbs’ first recreational marijuana store in Chicago Ridge.

Ascend by Midway, which aims to better people’s lives through cannabis, opened Thursday in the former Pier I space, 9820 S. Ridgeland Ave., in the Chicago Ridge Mall parking lot. Ascend celebrates its grand opening this weekend. Unlike its Michigan stores' grand openigs, which offered joint rolling workshops for a penny, Illinois does not permit cannabis shops to give out free samples.

“We bring jobs and people the access and availability of cannabis,” AWH Midwest retail director Jason Berkenstock said. “What I love about the brand is that we’re creating a catered consumer experience.”

Designed to provide a seamless customer experience, the store’s open floor plan allows for customers to easily browse Ascend’s curated product selection, including flower, edibles, topicals, extracts and vapes. The store also offers marijuana smoking accessories.

“If you want pain management or to get through the day with more energy, there’s a variety of products and forms," Berkenstock said. "We want to introduce folks that it's more than just smoking and inhalation. There’s topicals, tinctures, capsules. You can get something that looks like Advil of Tylenol, so it doesn’t look like cannabis if you're concerned about the former method of consumption.”

The 1,900-square-foot retail space provides abundant space for excellent customer experience “that reflects the new demands of a socially distant world driven by technology and e-commerce,” a company news release said.

Berkenstock said customers can expect knowledgeable staff to advise on new product and promote the benefits of the plant. Ascend has a robust training program and employees are provided with constant education, whether virtually or in the classroom to make sure their knowledge and product information stays current and relevant.

The store has brought 40 jobs to the local area, including managerial, security and budtenders. Ascend’s Chicago Ridge store looks and feels like a retail establishment, with ample parking for customers and employees around the dispensary, and overflow parking in the mall. There is also an ATM conveniently located inside the store, since the federal-level illegality of cannabis prevents credit payment for pot sales.

“Chicago Ridge was a great partner trying to bring us in,” Birkenstock said. “Our organization is very strategic where they put dispensaries. I love that it is in the mall parking lot and in a place where you wouldn’t normally see a dispensary.”

Ascend by Midway in Chicago Ridge caters to the adult-use, recreational market. The state tacks the usual taxes on retail cannabis sales. Medical-use customers are welcome and will receive a 10-percent discount by showing their medical cannabis cards, but are still subject to the same retail taxes.

Established in 2018, the Chicago Ridge store is the company's sixteenth dispensary.State dispensary regulations prohibit importing cannabis products from out of state. AWH produces product at its cultivation center in Barry, Ill., about 75 miles west of Springfield.

“It has been a short run, and it’s incredible to see the growth of the industry,” Berkenstock said. “To be on the and be on the front of the rocket ship holding on is really exciting.”

Mayor Chuck Tokar was on hand for Thursday’s ribbon cutting ceremony. Tokar said he was comfortable with the store’s security plan and signage warning that no minors under 21 are permitted inside. Customers have to present a government ID before being admitted inside.

“I think it’s a classy operation,” the mayor said. “I think they will do great business here. I have to be honest, what’s important to me is this is going to bring in a lot of sales tax revenue to Chicago Ridge.”

The Chicago Ridge dispensary is a secondary location to the original Midway Dispensary in the shadow of Chicago Midway Airport at 5650 S Archer Ave., Chicago. Midway is still open for business as AWH goes through the state’s approval process.

“When that happens, we’ll do a rebranding and put the blue mural on the building,” Birkenstock said.

Hours for Ascend by Midway, 9820 S. Ridgeland Ave., Chicago Ridge, are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Reach the dispensary by phone at 872-260-5100, or visit Ascend by Midway.