SF Gate report
Berner’s on Haight was arguably the most notable cannabis store in San Francisco when it opened in December 2019. It was the first store to open in the iconic and historically weed-friendly Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, the first to open under the city’s social equity program, and a major new location for Cookies, San Francisco’s most famous marijauna brand.
But like many of the high hopes of the California legal cannabis industry, Berner’s on Haight has run into a costly and untimely demise. Cookies separated from the store’s social equity ownership group in 2024, and the store eventually closed. Now, Cookies has been forced to pay out an $8.4 million award to the store’s owners over a contractual disagreement.
The store was a partnership between Cookies, the brand created by rapper Gilbert “Berner” Milam Jr, and a social equity applicant named Shawn Richard. The city’s social equity program was designed to give access to the legal market to people historically harmed by the War on Drugs, and Richard is a Haight Street local who told media outlets he grew up selling drugs in the area. Richard’s company, Cole Ashbury Group, owned the store but partnered with Cookies for branding and investment capital.
Cookies cut ties with the store early last year, and Berner’s on Haight was rebranded as Blaze on Haight. As the two companies publicly cut ties, a legal dispute was already underway. Cole Ashbury Group filed an arbitration claim against Cookies in September 2023 regarding a contractual dispute where the group said Cookies was required to buy the company and the store for $10 million if certain terms were met, according to court documents filed in San Francisco Superior Court.
The arbitration proceedings continued with a three-day hearing in October last year, and retired Judge David Garcia issued the group a final arbitration award in April for $8.4 million in damages, attorney’s fees and costs, according to a final award submitted to the San Francisco Court. The award was first reported by the website Blurred Culture.
Read more at
https://www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/cookies-san-francisco-haight-street-20763172.php
