Tuesday marked the first day of recreational marijuana sales at Bliss Ohio.

General manager James Russell II says the vendor has seen over 500 visitors since beginning recreational marijuana sales.

“It’s been awesome to see new faces,” he said, “People from the community are coming in and being able to experience something that a lot of people, that we’ve been told, they’ve been waiting for decades for.”

Located on East Main Street, Bliss Ohio began distributing only medicinal marijuana in April 2023 after the store was given a certificate of operations from the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control according to Russell.

After Issue 2 was passed on the Ohio ballot on Nov. 7, recreational marijuana became officially legal for sales for those 21 and older on Tuesday.

Russell, a former Kent State student, emphasized that the store is locally-owned, serving the Kent community.

“We are a one-store entity,” he said. “We are not owned by any corporate entity or anything like that. We don’t have any ties to any other marijuana businesses. It is just us and our little team.”

Bliss Ohio is owned by lobbyists Dwayne and Pamela Siekman who run the lobbying firm Siekman, Siekman & Associates.

Dalton Moyer, Bliss Ohio employee and Kent native, said despite the large number of customers since the store began selling recreationally, there have not been any long lines to enter the store.

“Our average time for the last couple of days of recreational was between 10 and 15 minutes … for hundreds of people to get in and out with their cannabis,” he said.

Moyer encouraged residents of the Kent area to “at least try us once.”

“We have so many different products that aren’t what people are used to,” he said. “You don’t have to smoke anything. You don’t have to vaporize anything. You don’t have to eat anything. We have topicals, creams, muscle and joint balms, anything.”

Bliss Ohio’s products are available to those 21 and older.

Michael Neenan is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].