Alex Levine and Lisa Leder stand outside Fired Cannabis’ store at 10455 E. Colfax Ave. in Aurora. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen) The first dispensary chain founded by Alex Levine, Andy Levine and Lisa Leder is preparing to cease operations in Colorado, three years after they sold it.
But they have high expectations for take two — their new chain, Fired Cannabis.
“Our plan is to get back to where we were,” said Alex Levine. “It’s just a long detour.”
The trio — Andy Levine and Lisa are married, and Alex is Andy’s son — opened the inaugural Green Dragon dispensary in 2014, and the cannabis firm was one of Colorado’s biggest when they sold it in 2021.
But things fell apart after that.
Eaze, the California-based cannabis delivery service that bought Green Dragon, fired the trio in early 2023, and they resigned from the board months later. The year since has featured lawsuits , one of which is still pending. And Green Dragon’s CEO told BusinessDen last month that the company’s Denver grow operation and 17 Colorado dispensaries will shutter at the end of the year.
“Quickly after the merger closed, we realized we didn’t have much of a say,” the younger Levine said. “They didn’t want our expertise at all. They wanted our assets.”
The trio say they’re now focused on Fired, which has seven stores in the works between Denver and Aurora.
“We know how to run a lean operation and be profitable,” Leder said.In May, they took over three licenses from the now-defunct Altitude Dispensaries. In June, they got another four from Lightshade Dispensaries, which still operates four other local stores itself.They bought two of the buildings — 10455 E. Colfax Ave. in Aurora and 1568 S. Federal Blvd in Denver — through Leder’s real estate company Best Properties LLC for $2.1 million and $600,000, records show. Fired leases the other five, which are all in Denver.The dispensaries are open, although renovations are underway.The three Altitude shops are further along because they’ve been working on them since May. One shop in Aurora is basically finished, save a few minor touches, and the other two should be […]
Green Dragon founders fired up to ‘get back to where we were’ with new joint
