High roller: Boutique dispensary opens downtown
The future of pot has arrived in Charlottesville. And it looks like an Apple store.
Skooma, the town’s newest CBD dispensary, opened on the Downtown Mall earlier this month. For the moment, the slick operation is offering the weed-adjacent products that are currently widely available in Virginia—edibles and plants that offer the muscle-relaxing benefits of CBD but lack THC, the ingredient in regular marijuana with hallucinogenic effects.
Skooma’s style, however, immediately sets it apart from some of the city’s other CBD stores. The shop is pristine and spacious, with hemp flowers perched atop modern stands and employees floating around in floor-length white lab coats.
Owner David Treccariche says the aesthetic is intentional. Skooma (named after a drug from the Elder Scrolls video game series) is a self-described “boutique” cannabis shop, differentiating it from other head and smoke shops, which Trecaricche says usually have “annoying signs on the door…bright flashing lights [and] a different environment.”
Before entering the marijuana business, Trecaricche founded a car dealership and worked as an operations manager for Tiger Fuel Company. After recognizing marijuana’s increased presence in mainstream American life, he decided “to jump feet first” into the market for legal weed. He plans to transition to selling THC-based products once he’s legally allowed to do so, and says he’ll eventually open a second location, using demographic information from customers to decide where it should be located.
Treccariche says he hopes his shop will “set the standard” for dispensaries in the Charlottesville area as the legal buying and selling of marijuana approaches in 2024. For now, one of Skooma’s main points of emphasis is to match customers’ different preferences and comfort levels and “educate” wherever it can.
“Some people are just strictly gummies, and that’s great, we love that,” he says. “And some people like to be old school and smoke, and that’s great too.” With full legalization in sight, entrepreneurs like Treccariche have set their sights high.—Joseph Riley
City approves eviction right-to-counsel program
During its Monday night meeting, Charlottesville City Council dedicated $300,000 of American Rescue Plan funds to establish a right-to-counsel pilot program for eviction hearings. Charlottesville is the first city in the south to guarantee representation for those facing eviction. An additional $400,000 was allocated towards emergency rent assistance. Headed by the Legal Aid Justice Center, the new program will include community outreach and education, as well as rent relief navigation and support. Once the Centers for Disease Control’s ban on evictions ends on July 31, local housing activists, who have been advocating for the program since spring, say the legal representation will help keep struggling tenants in their homes.
“We’ve had several drivers get sick. We’ve been here with the major snowstorms. We were there on August 11 and 12…The need for a transit union is one that is long overdue for us.”
—CAT bus driver Matthew Ray, advocating for a collective bargaining ordinance for city employees during Monday’s City Council meeting
In brief
Guns down in Albemarle
Tighter gun control could soon be coming to Albemarle County. On Wednesday night, the Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing and then vote on an ordinance outlawing guns in buildings, parks, and community centers owned (or used) by the county. Some community members have spoken out against the proposal, claiming it will not prevent gun violence and will negatively impact law-abiding gun owners. Localities across the state have enacted similar gun bans—Charlottesville enacted a very similar policy last year.
Sold!
The practically-empty Fashion Square Mall was up for auction last week. During a foreclosure auction outside the Albemarle County Circuit Courthouse on Friday, the mall’s mortgage lender, an LLC called Charlottesville JP 2014-C21 LLC, bid back and forth with local real estate mogul Richard Hewitt for about 20 minutes, before repurchasing the property for $20.2 million, reports the Daily Progress. The mall’s owner, Washington Prime Group Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month. The long-term future of the mall remains to be seen.
Game of Throneburgs
A new politician has thrown his hat in the ring for the 2022 5th Congressional District race. Josh Throneburg, a minister and small business owner, has announced that he’s running as a Democrat for the seat currently held by Bob Good. Throneburg hopes to create green jobs in rural areas, expand access to healthcare, and work to address systemic racism. He says he was inspired to run by his daughters and “the uncertain future they are inheriting.”
Updated 7/26: An earlier version misspelled Josh Throneburg’s name.