Osseo Hopes to Open Municipal Cannabis Store by End of Year
The City of Osseo is moving forward on progress to have its municipal cannabis store open by the end of the year. It would be the second city-operated cannabis store in the state, after Anoka opened its wholly-owned operation earlier this year.
“We’re going a different route here in Osseo,” said City Administrator Shane Mikkelson, who is also the chief of police. “We’re going to contracting with a private company to run the store and do some of the build-out. Currently, those contracts are getting finalized with Voyager Cannabis.”
Osseo leaders want to use the former Press and News building as a municipal cannabis outlet.
Voyager will operate the store and manage product inventory, along with the employees, said Mikkelson. It will operate out of the old Press Building in town, which the city owns and will renovate.
“Currently, we’re going through some of the preliminary plans and specs as far as the building, the parking lot, having to do any type of infrastructure changes, like water, sewer, bathrooms, all of that is kind of getting planned right now,” said Mikkelson. “I think we’ll be up and running by the end of the year, and this will all be done, for sure.”
Mikkelson has been chief of police since 2015 and became city administrator in 2024.
“I’m here in a police uniform talking about selling cannabis. That is one of the oddities I thought would never happen,” he said with a smile. “When it came to cannabis and me, being in a law enforcement fashion, I thought a lot about it, it was really difficult for me, because I have two different hats. As a public safety official, I say: ‘No way.’ But as a city administrator and doing full city budgets, I see where the impact can be very impactful for our city. I also see where public safety can struggle with that, but that has left the building. It’s coming whether I like it or not.”
City staff and city council have been tasked to think “outside of the box” when it comes to driving revenue for the city–and not continuing to raise taxes on the small northwest suburb, he said.
“We’re going to be overseeing everything that comes and goes from that facility. We’re going to be making sure our vendor is doing exactly what they’re supposed to be doing and that we’re listening to the residents of the city of Osseo if there are any issues,” said Mikkelson.
