Craig’s fourth marijuana dispensary is slated to open before the end of July.

The Kind Castle, an expanding chain of dispensaries that started in Parachute and Nederland, will include Craig as part of its rapid growth starting in July, if the owner’s goals are met.

“We’re looking at within weeks,” said John Dyet, owner of the chain. “We’ve got painters coming out Monday, the sign permit just was submitted (Thursday), so we’re fabricating a big castle-shaped sign that’s about to go up.”

Dyet snapped up two of the first licenses granted after Craig opened up to recreational marijuana just over a year ago. The city limited licenses to seven total, but the Kind Castle’s, which was renewed at Tuesday’s city council meeting, was tied up until now.

“We’ve had a number of things,” Dyet said. “You know, corona delayed some things for everybody, and some other issues we’ve had to overcome are getting vendors, doing upgrades, lighting the parking lot, little things like that. We also had updated some new members to our staff, and brought them in to further acclimate them before we stretched out. The biggest thing was the transition from one store in Parachute to being a chain.”

Dyet said he’s opened or is opening a dozen stores over the past year.

The Kind Castle’s first Craig outlet will be at 690 W. Victory Way in the building of a former insurance office. The unassuming exterior belies the castle-themed interior, with swords on the walls, heraldic banners flanking a throne, and medieval knight’s helmets on the counters.

But the gimmick isn’t the only hook, Dyet said.

“We pride ourselves on having all the best growers under one roof,” he said. “Or one castle, in our case. There’s a lot of guys’ stores where the variation of cannabis products, you can see they’ve come from the same source. We have marriages with the very best growers in Colorado, and it pulls them together.”

Additionally, quality and purity are top priorities, Dyet said.

“I’m very strict on organic practices,” he said. “We won’t bring anybody in that’s not organic. Our signs say ‘organic for a reason,’ and we’re real sticklers to make sure we screen growers for using chemicals. Some competitors don’t do that. We’re picky.”

Dyet added that in spite of the commitment to quality, he’s been able to keep his prices competitive, even low.

“We’re really proud of our price points,” he said. “People all say we’ve got the best prices, and I’ve done assessments looking at our markets, the breakdown of after-discount pricing, we were the cheapest in Parachute and the vicinity. I was surprised by that.”

Dyet said Craig, once it opened up to retail marijuana, was a big destination for his growing franchise.

“We had people from Craig driving to Dinosaur or coming down to us even,” Dyet said. “Customers from Craig, who we knew personally, they would talk about how they’d wish Craig would open up and allow it. We thought at first that wasn’t on the city’s agenda, but when we saw they were eyeing cannabis and putting together laws, they seemed very fair, very pro-business.”

Craig city council voted this week not to add any sales tax to the marijuana industry, despite being given the option to do so by voters up to 4%.

“The vibe of Craig is wonderful. After we got approved, we saw that welcoming in their eyes,” Dyet said. “For both sides, it makes sense. And I think we got the best location in town, right next to the Walgreens. We’re pumped about it.”