rewrite this title and make it good for SEOCookies cannabis stores close in Michigan as TerrAscend exits

Six Cookies-branded cannabis stores in Michigan are expected to close this weekend as part of marijuana multistate operator TerrAscend Corp.’s exit from the state.

The King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-headquartered company is also planning to lay off 236 employees statewide in Michigan, according to a federally mandated layoff notice shared with state officials.

The company in June announced its intent to exit Michigan, where adult-use marijuana sales could reach as much as $3.89 billion in 2025, according to an MJBizFactbook projection.

Statewide, TerrAscend operated 20 retail stores and four cultivation and processing locations, according to public filings.

Initially, TerrAscend said it planned to sell its assets in Michigan, which company Executive Chair Jason Wild called “an extremely difficult market,” in order to raise capital to pay down debt.

In filings, the company cited competition and price compression resulting from excessive supply as Michigan-specific challenges.

No mention of a buyer was made in its most recently quarterly earnings statement earlier this month.

As MLive reported, Cookies-branded marijuana stores in the following cities will close.

Ann Arbor
Detroit
Jackson
Kalamazoo
Oxford

A Lemonnade-branded store, considered part of the broader Cookies brand family, will also close in Center Line.

TerrAscend also will close 14 other stores under the Gage Cannabis and Pinnacle Emporium brands.

Cookies does not own its own stores but licenses its intellectual property to other companies.

A separately owned Cookies-branded cannabis store in Grand Rapids is still open.

San Francisco-headquartered Cookies, cofounded by musician and entrepreneur Berner, is considered by many to be the legal marijuana industry’s best-known brand.

However, Cookies stores in San Francisco and Oakland have also bowed to the pressures mounting on the legal marijuana industry and closed their doors.