Raul Molina didn’t initially enter the cannabis industry for the plant itself; his background was in retail. That difference, it turns out, has made all the difference. According to the co-founder and COO of Mint Cannabis, what makes a great dispensary comes down to the person behind the counter. For Molina, this means a customer-first approach that has helped Mint become the MSO leader it is today. This philosophy has shaped each step of Mint’s growth.
Mint opened its first location in March 2017 in Guadalupe, a one-square-mile town tucked inside Phoenix. Today, the company operates 38 dispensaries across Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri and Nevada, with licenses in nine states and 72 more locations in development. By the close of 2027, Molina expects that footprint to reach around 150 stores expanding into additional markets, including Delaware and Minnesota, where Mint has already secured licenses.
That kind of scale is rare in cannabis. What’s more rare is doing it without outside investment. “We haven’t taken on any partners. We haven’t borrowed any money,” he says. “All the growth that Mint has experienced has been growth through the revenue streams coming out of Arizona.” Every new market, every new store, is funded by the last one.
What makes that growth possible is more than a smart licensing strategy. It’s about keeping the company’s culture intact as it crosses state lines. And it’s a topic Molina thinks about constantly.
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“I want customers to walk into any of our stores and have the same feeling,” he says. “I want them to feel welcome.” The uniforms, the display cases and the layout travel with the brand. “That’s one of the reasons we’ve been able to keep the same vibe.”
At the Tempe flagship in Guadalupe, AZ, that vibe goes further than anywhere else in the country. The 12,000-square-foot store is the largest in The Grand Canyon State and ranks among the largest in the US. One of its most popular features is a floor-to-ceiling grow window where customers can watch plants move from clone to harvest. Mint operates what it says is the only licensed cannabis kitchen in the country, where customers can order pizza, wings, burgers and tacos infused with actual THC. Since it opened, the kitchen has generated more than $80 million in earned media, with news crews arriving from South Korea, Singapore and dozens of American markets to cover the dispensary’s unique offering.
But the personalized approach is where Molina’s retail instincts and customer-first ethos are evident. Mint keeps notes on every transaction to ensure customers get the very best experience.
“If you come in because you had high anxiety and we recommend a product, when you come back, we’re going to ask you: How did that product make you feel?” he says. “If it didn’t quite do it, we’re going to figure out what’s going to help you get to where you want to be.” Molina’s customer-first policy is visible in other ways, too. First-time visitors receive a buy-one-get-one offer and 30 individual coupons. Veterans receive a free pre-roll with no purchase required. Customers who can’t afford anything that day aren’t turned away empty-handed. “We would hate for people not to have access to something they’re using as medicine because of money.”
That same humanitarian spirit extends well past the store walls. In less than a decade, Mint has donated some $4 million to community causes, none of which is tax-deductible under current cannabis law. A mammogram bus visits each of the nine Arizona stores every quarter. Blood drives are held regularly, with donors receiving a free eighth for their time. The company also sponsors the local Little League team in Guadalupe, funds an after-school snack program, runs toy and food drives and hosts private events for cancer survivors. For five straight years, Mint has quietly sponsored a breakfast for a fallen law enforcement heroes association, putting the brand in rooms full of police chiefs, mayors and state officials without making any fanfare about it.
“I don’t post it on social media. I don’t post it anywhere,” Molina says. “I’d just go, shake a few hands, cater their breakfast and leave.” This year, they finally let him speak. “I got up on stage and I said, I can’t believe you guys invited me here. Ten years ago, any one of you would have arrested me in a heartbeat. And here I am, one of the biggest ‘drug dealers’ in the state, speaking in front of the highest authorities.”
The personal journey behind these efforts highlights Molina’s evolving relationship with cannabis and how he sees his role in the industry. He immigrated to the US from Mexico at six years old, one of six children, and he went on to build his career across nine different businesses, including the automotive industry, before cannabis. It’s his experience in the latter that Molina credits with his retail acumen and with the success of his dispensaries.
When he started, he says, he shared many of the same doubts about the plant that others still carry. That changed over time, customer by customer. “I’ve learned to see a whole different side of the plant,” he says. “To respect it.” Now, part of his mission is to remove the stigma surrounding the cannabis plant by replacing outdated perceptions with honest conversations.
“I want to be put in the middle of a group that’s mad—that thinks cannabis is bad—so I can have a real conversation,” he says.
Molina is equally clear about the debt he feels to the people who built the road before him. “I stand on the shoulders of the ones that came before me, who struggled, sacrificed and dealt with stuff I no longer have to,” he says. “I hope that someday I’ll be able to sit back and say, ‘We were part of that. And now look what it is.’”
Originally published in Issue 53 of Cannabis Now Magazine.
The post Arizona Gold: The Mint Dispensary appeared first on Cannabis Now.
