Anoka opens Minnesota’s first city-owned cannabis dispensary, testing a new model of public ownership

ANOKA, MN

On a quiet stretch of East River Road, beside a municipal liquor store that has served residents for generations, the City of Anoka is preparing to open a business unlike any it has operated before.

On February 5, 2026, Anoka will formally unveil Anoka Cannabis Company, becoming the first city in Minnesota to open a municipally owned cannabis dispensary and one of only a small number of government-run marijuana retailers currently operating in the United States.

The opening places Anoka at the center of a national conversation about what cannabis legalization looks like when the seller is not a private entrepreneur or a multistate corporation, but a city itself.

A staged opening, by design

City officials have structured the launch as a multi-day rollout intended to balance public interest, regulatory compliance, and crowd control.

• Wednesday, February 4: A community open house from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., offering residents a chance to tour the facility and ask questions. No cannabis sales will occur.
• Thursday, February 5: An official ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2 p.m., marking the dispensary’s formal debut.
• Friday, February 6: Retail sales begin at 10 a.m.

During the initial opening period, purchases will be by appointment only, booked through the dispensary’s website. City officials say regular walk-in service is expected to begin Monday, February 9, once opening-week demand stabilizes.

The building and the operation

The dispensary occupies a 3,000-square-foot, purpose-built facility at 839 East River Road, directly adjacent to Anoka’s city-owned Better Values Liquor store. The physical proximity is not accidental. For city leaders, the pairing symbolizes continuity rather than departure.

Security and infrastructure were central to the design. The building includes reinforced glass, a secure sally port for deliveries, and more than 35 security cameras, features intended to meet or exceed state requirements for cannabis retailers.

The structure also reflects the city’s sustainability goals. Solar panels are designed to generate approximately 88 percent of the building’s electricity, an uncommon feature in a market where many dispensaries are adapted retail spaces rather than new construction.

Where the cannabis comes from

Because Minnesota’s broader adult-use retail market is still ramping up, Anoka has turned to tribal partners to stock its shelves. The city has confirmed product orders from the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and the Prairie Island Indian Community, both of which are authorized to operate cannabis businesses under tribal sovereignty.

Those partnerships allow Anoka to open with a supply of flower and manufactured products while the state’s licensed private growers and processors continue to scale production.

A familiar argument, applied to a new product

City officials have framed the cannabis dispensary not as a gamble, but as an extension of a long-standing municipal practice. Anoka has operated city-owned liquor stores since 1937, a legacy often cited by supporters as evidence that the city understands how to balance public oversight with commercial reality.

Under the municipal model, all net profits from Anoka Cannabis Company remain with the city, rather than flowing to private owners or shareholders. Officials have identified several priority areas for reinvestment, including:

• Improvements to city parks and the Anoka Social District
• Upgrades to Green Haven Golf Course
• Property tax relief and levy reductions for Anoka’s roughly 18,000 residents

Supporters argue that the approach keeps cannabis revenue local and transparent, tying legalization directly to visible public benefits.

The legal landscape

Minnesota’s adult-use cannabis law, adopted in 2023, explicitly allows cities to apply for and hold retail cannabis licenses. While most municipalities have so far limited their role to zoning and licensing private operators, the statute leaves room for direct local ownership.

Anoka is the first to move from concept to operation. But it is unlikely to be the last. Cities including Osseo, Elk River, and Grand Rapids have publicly discussed or initiated plans to pursue municipal dispensaries of their own, watching closely to see how Anoka’s experiment unfolds.

A test case beyond Minnesota

Nationally, government-run cannabis stores remain rare, with only a handful operating in select jurisdictions. That scarcity has drawn attention from policymakers and municipal leaders far beyond Minnesota, who are watching Anoka to see whether public ownership can deliver on its promises of community reinvestment, tighter oversight, and political durability.

For now, the storefront on East River Road represents something more modest and more ambitious at once: a small city applying an old idea of public enterprise to a new and still unsettled market.

Whether Anoka Cannabis Company becomes a blueprint or a cautionary tale may take years to determine. But when the ribbon is cut on February 5 and the first sales begin the following morning, Anoka will have already secured its place in Minnesota history.

MinneapoliMedia