If someone came to Niles to get their bike fixed, they would stop by Inertia Cycleworks on Main Street. While they waited, they might browse an antique shop or stop by The Paris Soda Company for a scoop of ice cream, before they rode away on their newly fixed bicycle.

This is a scenario some local business owners are hoping will also apply to medical marijuana facilities, should they result from new local ordinances that could bring those facilities to Cass and Berrien counties.

Over the course of many meetings on the subject, local leaders and civilians alike have expressed concerns over bringing medical marijuana to the area

Concerns raised have ranged from the facilities being nearby and available to children, lowering property values and the perception that the community would be endorsing a “gateway drug.”

However, several business owners in both Cass and Berrien counties do not share these concerns and are in favor of bringing medical marijuana dispensaries and facilities into the area.

Bryan Williams, owner of The Brass Eye in Niles, and Alan Robrandt, owner of Alan Robandt Antique, Vintage and Modern in Buchanan, believe medical marijuana facilities placed close to businesses could be beneficial, because it would potentially bring many people to the area.

Williams attended two public meetings in Niles about medical marijuana and heard stories of people who travelled as far away as Jackson, Lansing and Ann Arbor to obtain medical marijuana from dispensaries.

“If a dispensary in Niles is closer for people in southwest Michigan to come to, they will,” Williams said. “That will create a lot of traffic.”

To Robrandt, it is common sense that increased traffic will lead to increased business revenue. He bases this belief off of the fact that, in his experience, a new business tends to create customers for nearby storefronts.

“I get customers who are visiting the hair salon or the coffee shop across the street,” Robrant said. “It’ll be like they are going to Costco. They come for one thing, but they never leave with just one thing.”

Robrant said he used to be anti-medical marijuana until he spoke with friends from Colorado, whose businesses became more profitable after marijuana was legalized.

Now, Robrandt is urging Buchanan officials to consider allowing a retail dispensary in downtown, something he said has been difficult. He believes downtown is the perfect location for a dispensary as it would utilize unused commercial space and parking.

“Look at anywhere this has already been implemented in the United States,” Robrant said. “It has always been a net positive for the local community.”

Both Williams and Robrandt said they would happily welcome those visiting a local dispensary into their businesses.

“The more people the better,” Williams said.

Some local business owners see benefits to bringing facilities to Berrien and Cass counties beyond just increased traffic.

Nate Purucker, a Cassopolis business owner, has a more creative way to capitalize off the medical marijuana industry in mind.

Purucker is the owner of Green Iguana Hydroponics, an indoor/outdoor gardening shop in downtown Cassopolis. His recently opened storefront sells soil, lights and growing media, all things that are needed by large scale, indoor medical marijuana growing facilities.

Should a growing operation open nearby, something Purucker feels is eventually inevitable, he hopes to sell and transport gardening materials to the facility.

“I’m trying to think ahead about what I could do with the store. I see this as an opportunity to grow as a business,” Purucker said. “[Supplying and transporting gardening materials] is a service I think I could provide. It’s completely legal and you don’t need a license for it.”

More so than just benefitting himself and marijuana growers and distributors, Purucker believes working with medical marijuana facilities could stimulate the local economy by creating jobs.

“If I did [start selling to medical marijuana growers], I would need to hire people, depending on how big it got,” Purucker said. “I would need to hire at least one driver to help transport.”

Purucker is aware that he could supply gardening materials to any type of farming or gardening business, many of which would be less controversial. However, he feels that medical marijuana is the direction with the most promise for him and other individuals hoping to get involved in a brand new market.

“Once [medical marijuana growers] get licenses, these places will be popping up all over,” he said. “It’s coming. It’s a done deal.”

While Purucker and Robrant are excited for the possibilities that a new medical marijuana industry in southwest Michigan could bring, Williams warns that, at this point, everything is hypothetical.

“It’s a big question mark right now. No new industry opens up without a few pitfalls here and there,” Williams said. “There’s no way of telling exactly what will happen.”