MINNEAPOLIS – Hello Flora!, one of the early innovators in Minnesota’s burgeoning cannabis industry, is closing its doors in early December. They opened in Minneapolis about a year and a half ago.
“It’s got a really good energy here. We’re welcoming and people like coming here, so it’s sad,” owner Heather Klein said.
Hi Flora! serves plant-based foods and offers low-dose THC tinctures that people can add to their food or drinks or take home. They also sell THC drinks in their store.
Klein, who has been sober since 2017, said she wanted to create a fun alcohol-free bar. She said the financial problems began in August 2023, when the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) said a customer experienced a “serious adverse health event” after consuming a product.
“The paramedics said it was a bit worried. By the time the paramedics got here, she was doing fine,” she said.
Klein said they try to educate customers about their products before consuming them, and that the August incident was rare. The OCM inspected the business after the incident, which led to alleged violations including selling products that exceeded the legal amount of THC and allowing on-site consumption without an alcohol license.
Klein said the product they found exceeded the legal limit was a concentrated ingredient used to make the lower dose products.
“It didn’t sell and it didn’t have a label on it because it didn’t sell,” she said.
Due to an alcohol tax in 2017, Klein said she can’t get a permanent liquor license to consume low-dose hemp on-site, even though her business is alcohol-free.
“That was my whole concept, so there’s not much we can do,” she said.
Klein said she was fined $7,500 for the violations. After she stopped selling the tinctures, she said sales dropped 50%.
“I had meetings with the head of the health department here and they approved everything I did,” she said.
But when the OCM took over in August, she said it was too difficult.
“There are no clear guidelines. They seem to change weekly, sometimes daily,” she said.
As this chapter comes to a close, Klein said she hopes to reopen in some capacity, in another smaller space.
Kirsten Mitchell
