DeKalb glass shop OK’d to sell marijuana materials

DeKALB – A new glass shop in DeKalb recently received the go-ahead to sell materials used to smoke tobacco or marijuana to customers.

Council action was taken in a pair of 7-1 votes this week to issue a special use permit and amend a planned development ordinance to allow Chicago Canna Co. and Bob’s Exotics to do business in town at 650 N. Peace Road.

Chicago Canna Co. sells specialty soils, mulch, compost, grow lights, humidifiers and air pumps while offering educational programming, among other things. Bob’s Exotics intends to sell glass products for tobacco and marijuana use.

The stores, which opened in October, also display artwork. Bob’s Exotics has items available for viewing, but the owner required a special use permit to sell the glass materials used to smoke marijuana.

Chicago Canna Co. is run by Charlie Colon on the first floor. Colon co-owns the business with Adam Ballwinsky and Dre Hill. The glass shop, Bob’s Exotics, is operated by Bob Perez on the upper level.

Attorney Katarina Karac spoke on behalf of Perez, urging the City Council to back his requests for approval.

“I think there are other true retail tobacco stores in the city of DeKalb,” Karac said in a Monday meeting. “This is a little bit of a different situation. [Owner] Bobby [Perez] is proposing to sell other retail products – not so much tobacco but glass pipes and other items.”

Chicago Canna Co. and Bob’s Exotics are subject to restrictions set forth by a 2017 city ordinance that originally was intended for a medicinal cannabis dispensary that never materialized.

No marijuana is sold on the premises. The owners previously told the Daily Chronicle that they don’t have interest in selling the drug in the future.

However, Perez said, the establishment may be open to selling vapes.

“It’s very different from many of the tobacco stores that we already have in DeKalb in that I won’t be focusing on tobacco,” Perez said. “I won’t sell cigarettes. At most, I may carry vapes products for people that come in looking for tobacco, but that’s just to encourage them not to do tobacco.”

Not everyone was supportive of the establishment’s requests to do business in town.

Seventh Ward Alderman John Walker asked Perez if he would rather people use vape products than tobacco.

Perez said his “focal point is more items catered to the consumption of cannabis.”

Walker questioned what would separate Bob’s Exotics from other retail tobacco shops in town.

“I just want to know, what’s the difference?” Walker said.

Perez said his shop focuses on locally made glass art.

“The difference is that we highlight local glass artists and domestically made products,” Perez said. “You won’t walk into my store and see a sales floor filled or showcases filled with products that are from overseas.”

Mayor Cohen Barnes suggested that imposing restrictions on tobacco establishments could be a possibility.

“We limited video gaming establishments [and] that was a year and a half ago,” Barnes said. “We actually started having that conversation of ‘Do we want to limit the amount of tobacco stores that we have in our community?’

“We could totally have that conversation. Do we want to limit it? I’m kind of on board with that.”

But Walker said he doesn’t want to hurt a local business by imposing restrictions on the number of tobacco licenses. He voted against the permit, however.

“I just feel like we have too many of those stores in this area already,” Walker said. “It just makes no sense that we keep throwing these stores around our area. However, I understand it’s a business, and it’s a business to make money.”

The petitioner’s requests were approved based on a set of conditions, including that no smoking is allowed on the premises, a tobacco license must be obtained if the owner wanted to sell tobacco in addition to glass products, and a security plan is required.