Even though pharmacies in Uruguay have yet to begin selling state-sanctioned marijuana, ancillary businesses have begun cropping up, and more are being founded on an ongoing basis.
One of the more popular business models is boutique shops that sell home cultivation supplies, as it’s legal now to grow privately. There are at least 20 such shops in Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo, according to France 24. Their target market is the country’s estimated 20,000 home growers.
Still, boutique shops aren’t producing newly minted millionaires yet. France 24 found that the “margins are small,” according to one business partner behind a boutique shop in Montevideo.
Other companies, however, are making a killing. One hemp farming operation that was founded a year ago with $150,000 in capital is now valued at $5 million, France 24 reported. The company hasn’t even harvested its first crop (that’s scheduled in January), but all 100 acres of it has already been sold.
