HIGH POINT — A new retail store featuring products that are all derived from hemp is set to open next month in the Palladium Commons shopping center.
Everything Hemp is planning an Aug. 20 opening in the space next to McAlister’s Deli, according to Jaide Roberts, store general manager.
This will be the fourth Everything Hemp store. The initial location opened its doors in Asheboro last year. A second store in Greensboro followed in April, and a store in Denver, N.C. is also planned for an August opening.
“Obviously, High Point was an important place for a couple different reasons: One, the demographics are good, and two, High Point is a growing community,” said store owner Bob Crumley. “We’re excited to be a part of the High Point community.”
Crumley, who is semiretired from a career as a well-known personal injury lawyer in the Triad, established Founder’s Hemp when it became legal to grow and process hemp in North Carolina in 2015.
The industrial hemp plant, which is same species as the marijuana plant, was banned from 1970 until 2014. Hemp contains a negligible amount of THC — the substance in marijuana that makes people high — and has a range of consumer and industrial uses.
Fiber derived from the stalks of hemp plants is used in twine, paper, construction materials, carpeting and apparel.
“We have everything from dog collars to rugs to sheets, linens, towels and clothing,” said Crumley of the stores. “Hemp fiber is very strong.”
Hemp seeds and leaves are used in making industrial oils, cosmetics, medicine and food products. Cannabidiol, or CBD oil, is a popular product derived from the flower of the plant. CBD is thought to have several health benefits, including reducing pain and inflammation.
“By far, the cannabidiol products are what most people come in the store looking for because of the health value,” said Crumley. “What we see is people coming in because their neighbor said, ‘I take CBD and it really helps my arthritis symptoms.’ Then they see all these other products we have, and it gets them interested in other things.”
Crumley said hemp cultivation was extensive in the south from Colonial times until the late 1800s. His company is devoted to facilitating a hemp industry in the state, and contracts with farmers who grow the plants.