TUCSON, Ariz. - Hand sanitizer and toilet cleaner continue to be hot commodities across the country, and when those first started flying off the shelves weeks ago, two Tucson dispensaries also saw an increase in sales.
“I think there was a moment when people started going to the store and toilet paper was gone and purell was gone and I think it led to maybe the cannabis is going to be gone too," said Moehit Asnani, the co-owner of the Downtown Dispensary and D2 Dispensary.
Asnani told KGUN9 that when he first noticed more clients were coming by the dispensary to buy product, he knew there needed to be safety practices implemented at both locations.
“I can’t have 50 people in the store at the same time, you know?" he said, "Going past now we are not going to let anyone in the back, in the dispensing area.”
One solution to help decrease the number of people physically going into the shops was to offer curbside delivery.
“The state requires us to have a trip plan for every delivery which is just a very detailed manifest of what’s going where and that’s usually done for home deliveries," he said,"Now we’re actually doing that for curbside so every trip is literally 0.05 miles.”
Asnani and his team also put up tents outside of the dispensaries to avoid overcrowding inside and provide an overflow area.
“We want to protect our employees and the patients," he said.
Asnani added that while the increase in sales didn't last too long and they've normalized now, the safety practices he and his business partner put in place will stay, at least for the time being.
“We’re really being cognizant of how this virus is working and trying to stop it every step of the way," he said.
