From seed to sale: Local hemp farmers open CBD store in the St. Clair Plaza

Thumbcoast CBD recently opened in St. Clair.
It took about a year for St. Clair’s latest business to come together--from seed to sale, as Mara McCalmon says.

Mara co-owns Thumb Coast CBD with husband Kyle, though she credits the family behind the business as even larger. The wellness center, as it’s called, carries a variety of hemp-based CBD products, including everything from balm to lotions, gummies and tinctures. There’s even CBD-infused dog biscuits.

CBD is derived from hemp plants, similar to marijuana plants but without the high-inducing THC chemicals that the latter Shelves are stocked to prepare for Thumbcoast CBD's openingpossess. It’s become an increasingly popular therapeutic and pain-reducing natural ingredient these past several years. Michigan legalized the production and sale of it in 2019.

Mara and Kyle grow their own hemp plants from their farm in St. Clair County.

"We’re a Michigan business. Our products are grown, produced, and sold right here in St. Clair County. It’s a great thing for Michigan," Mara says.

"We’re super excited to provide a product that can help so many people."

Since opening in January 2020, Mara says that much of her time is spent explaining the pain-reducing effects and benefits of CBD oil-based products to curious passers-by. In fact, it took quite a bit of explaining just to get the business opened in the first place, with Kyle having to inform city leaders that Thumb Coast isn’t a marijuana dispensary and demonstrate the differences between the two.

A local CBD store has opened in St. Clair.The work paid off. And the McCalmons are glad to have opened where they did.

"We weren’t looking at any one place in particular. The opportunity just kind of arose, it just presented itself. We knew we wanted to be on the coast, near the water," Mara says.

"St. Clair is pretty centrally located. It’s a good location for us."

Thumb Coast CBD is located in the St. Clair Plaza in downtown St. Clair.

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