“Hemp City’ held their grand opening Thursday morning in Cathedral City. The store sells cannabidiol products extracted from a hemp plant instead of a marijuana plant.
Cynthia Cambron and her husband are the owners of the new store. They also own ‘CBD Works’, an online hemp store.
“It’s the first retail store in the valley that offers hemp CBD products. The hemp plant has very little THC 0.03, so it’s not federally illegal at all,” Cambron said.
For some customers, like, Simone Bord, hemp products are an alternative to prescription medications.
“I started about 3-years-ago when I had a surgery and I don’t like to take pain killers and this has helped me,” Bord said.
The Cambrons say their goal in opening the new store is to educate people about the differences between hemp and marijuana.
“We’ve been in downtown Palm Springs. This will be our third Thursday, and they walk by the booth and they say, ‘oh that’s that marijuana stuff,’ and I’m like ‘no… no, let me show you! You have no psychoactive effect, no high feeling, nothing like that. It doesn’t impair you,'” Cambron said.
“What I’m really looking for is a pain reliever or something natural that can help me feel better, my skin feel better, so I’m really reading everything and making sure I understand before giving anything a try,” said Jovany Calvillo, a Desert Hot Springs resident.
While it may be a new concept for some, neighboring businesses say they’re happy to see the shopping center near full capacity.
The landlord, for the first time filled up the center. It’s been empty for almost forever. We have a doctor moving in, a smoke shop. so yeah, it’s doing good,” said Kiet Van of New Fortune Asian Cuisine, a neighboring business.
The ‘Hemp City’ business owners said they will also be using their store to hold educational forums for those who want to know more about hemp products.
