March 2022, Cresco Labs announced a proposed acquisition of Columbia Care. On July 31, 2023, Cresco Labs and Columbia Care announced a mutual agreement to terminate the $2 billion merger agreement. Today, Columbia Care Inc. announced a change of its legal name to The Cannabist Company Holdings Inc. and will rebrand to The Cannabist Company.
Columbia Care will continue the process of converting its retail portfolio to the Cannabist brand across the country in 2024. Cannabist was launched in 2021 as the Columbia Care’s national retail brand, which now accounts for 36 locations across the country. According to The Cannabist Company, “The retail experience was developed to educate, inspire, and serve the rapidly growing cannabis market, delivering high quality products, technology-led solutions, and a welcoming customer experience.”
“The rebrand to The Cannabist Company marks an incredibly pivotal moment for us as an organization and speaks to where we are heading,” said Jesse Channon, Chief Commercial Officer at The Cannabist Company. “When we launched Cannabist, we wanted to create a brand that could evolve with the rapidly growing industry and serve as the hub for all customers, regardless of what brought them in our doors. As we’ve opened Cannabists across the country, it became clear to us that the ethos behind that retail brand represented our company as a whole—a passion for cannabis that we all share and fuels our work every day. The introduction of our Cannabist retail experience has paved the way for a new level of innovation and customer engagement, and we felt it was the right time for us to step into a new future together as Cannabists.”
“This marks an important milestone in the Company’s evolution, signaling a fresh chapter and solidifying our commitment to providing an eco-system of collaborative technologies, products, and services,” said Nicholas Vita, The Cannabist Company CEO. “The Cannabist Company represents an opportunity to reintroduce ourselves in a way that combines our trusted heritage, passion for what we do, and the vision for where we are heading as a company and as an industry.”
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