{"id":86218,"date":"2026-06-28T16:54:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T00:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2026\/06\/28\/arizona-gold-the-mint-dispensary\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T19:46:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T03:46:34","slug":"arizona-gold-the-mint-dispensary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2026\/06\/28\/arizona-gold-the-mint-dispensary\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona Gold: The Mint\u00a0Dispensary"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Raul Molina\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0initially enter the cannabis industry for the plant itself; his background was in retail. That difference, it turns out, has made all the difference.\u00a0According to the co-founder and COO of Mint Cannabis<\/a>, what makes a great dispensary comes down to the person behind the counter. For Molina, this means a customer-first\u00a0approach\u00a0that has helped Mint become the MSO leader it is today. This philosophy\u00a0has shaped\u00a0each step of Mint\u2019s growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mint opened its first location in March 2017 in Guadalupe, a one-square-mile town tucked inside Phoenix. Today, the company\u00a0operates\u00a038 dispensaries across Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Illinois,\u00a0Missouri\u00a0and Nevada, with licenses in\u00a0nine\u00a0states and 72\u00a0more\u00a0locations in development. By the close of 2027, Molina expects\u00a0that\u00a0footprint to reach around 150 stores\u00a0expanding into\u00a0additional\u00a0markets, including Delaware and Minnesota, where Mint has\u00a0already secured\u00a0licenses.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

That kind of scale is rare in cannabis. What\u2019s\u00a0more rare\u00a0is doing it without outside investment.\u00a0\u201cWe\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0taken on any partners. We\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0borrowed any money,\u201d\u00a0he says.\u00a0\u201cAll the growth that Mint has experienced has been growth through the revenue streams coming out of Arizona<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0Every new market, every new store, is funded by the last one.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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flag football.<\/strong> NFL legend Ricky Williams joins Mint Dispensary\u2019s Raul Molina at its flagship location in Tempe, AZ; ( opposite ) Mint Dispensary was the first licensed cannabis kitchen in the nation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What makes that growth possible is more than a smart licensing strategy.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0about keeping the company\u2019s culture intact as it crosses state lines. And\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a topic Molina thinks about constantly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI want customers to walk into any of our stores and have the same feeling,\u201d\u00a0he says.\u00a0\u201cI want them to feel welcome.\u201d\u00a0The uniforms, the display\u00a0cases\u00a0and the layout travel with the brand.\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s one of the reasons we\u2019ve been able to keep the same vibe.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the Tempe flagship in Guadalupe,\u00a0AZ, that vibe goes further than anywhere else in the country. The 12,000-square-foot store is the largest in The Grand Canyon State and ranks among the largest in the US.\u00a0One of its most popular features\u00a0is a floor-to-ceiling grow window where customers can watch plants move from clone to harvest. Mint\u00a0operates\u00a0what it says is\u00a0the only licensed cannabis kitchen in the\u00a0country, where customers can order pizza, wings,\u00a0burgers\u00a0and tacos infused with actual THC. Since it opened, the kitchen has generated\u00a0more than\u00a0$80 million in earned media, with news crews arriving from South Korea,\u00a0Singapore\u00a0and dozens of American markets to cover the dispensary\u2019s unique offering.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the personalized approach is where Molina\u2019s retail instincts and customer-first ethos are\u00a0evident. Mint keeps notes on every transaction to ensure customers get the\u00a0very best\u00a0experience.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf you come in because you had high anxiety and we recommend a product, when you come back, we\u2019re going to ask you:\u00a0How did that product make you feel?\u201d\u00a0he says.\u00a0\u201cIf it didn\u2019t\u00a0quite\u00a0do it, we\u2019re going to figure out what\u2019s going to help you get to where you want to be.\u201d\u00a0Molina\u2019s customer-first policy is visible in other ways, too.\u00a0First-time visitors receive a buy-one-get-one offer and 30 individual coupons.\u00a0Veterans receive a free pre-roll with no purchase\u00a0required. Customers who\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0afford anything that day\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0turned away empty-handed.\u00a0\u201cWe would hate for people not to have access to something they\u2019re using as medicine because of money.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That same humanitarian spirit extends well past the store walls.\u00a0In less than a decade, Mint has donated\u00a0some\u00a0$4 million to community causes, none of which is tax-deductible under current cannabis law. A mammogram bus visits each of the nine Arizona stores every quarter. Blood drives are held regularly, with donors receiving a free eighth for their time. The company\u00a0also sponsors\u00a0the local Little League team in Guadalupe,\u00a0funds\u00a0an after-school snack program,\u00a0runs\u00a0toy and food\u00a0drives\u00a0and\u00a0hosts\u00a0private events for cancer survivors. For five straight years, Mint has quietly sponsored a breakfast for a fallen law enforcement heroes association, putting the brand in rooms full of police chiefs,\u00a0mayors\u00a0and state officials without making any fanfare about it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0post it on social media. I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0post it anywhere,\u201d\u00a0Molina says.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019d\u00a0just go, shake a few hands, cater their breakfast and leave.\u201d\u00a0This year, they finally let him speak.\u00a0\u201cI got up on stage and I said, I\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0believe\u00a0you guys\u00a0invited me here. Ten years ago, any one of you would have arrested me in a heartbeat. And here I am, one of the biggest\u00a0\u2018drug dealers\u2019\u00a0in the state, speaking in front of the highest authorities.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The personal journey behind these efforts highlights Molina\u2019s evolving relationship with cannabis and how\u00a0he\u00a0sees his role in the industry. He\u00a0immigrated to the US\u00a0from Mexico at six years old, one of six children, and he went on to build\u00a0his career across nine different businesses, including the automotive industry, before cannabis.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0his experience in the latter that Molina credits with his retail acumen and with the success of his dispensaries.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

When he started, he says,\u00a0he\u00a0shared many of the\u00a0same doubts about the plant that\u00a0others still\u00a0carry. That changed over time, customer by customer.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve learned to see a whole different side of the plant,\u201d\u00a0he says.\u00a0\u201cTo respect it.\u201d\u00a0Now,\u00a0part of his\u00a0mission\u00a0is to remove the stigma surrounding\u00a0the\u00a0cannabis plant\u00a0by replacing outdated\u00a0perceptions\u00a0with honest conversations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be put in the middle of a group that\u2019s mad\u2014that thinks cannabis is bad\u2014so I can have a real conversation,\u201d\u00a0he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Molina is equally clear about the debt he feels to the people who built the road before him.\u00a0\u201cI stand on the shoulders of the ones that came before me, who struggled, sacrificed and dealt with stuff I no longer have to,\u201d\u00a0he says.\u00a0\u201cI hope that someday\u00a0I\u2019ll\u00a0be able to sit back and say,\u00a0\u2018We were part of that. And now look what it is.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Originally published in Issue 53\u00a0of Cannabis Now Magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The post Arizona Gold: The Mint\u00a0Dispensary<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Arizona Gold: The Mint\u00a0Dispensary<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Raul Molina\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0initially enter the cannabis industry for the plant itself; his background was in retail. That difference, it turns out, has made all the difference.\u00a0According to the co-founder and COO of Mint Cannabis, what makes a great dispensary comes down to the person behind the counter. For Molina, this meansContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":234,"featured_media":86219,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[200,50,1077,85,19799],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86218"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/234"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86218"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86220,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86218\/revisions\/86220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}