Maribis of Springfield held a ribbon cutting on Friday, March 31, for its new location at 2451 Denver Drive, just off North Dirksen Parkway. The freestanding building previously housed an AT&T store.

Maribis had been located in nearby Grandview since January 2017. When the store first opened, it was one of two medical-marijuana dispensaries in Sangamon County and then added recreational cannabis beginning Jan. 1, 2020.

Business has been steadily increasing since then, and general manager Gabrielle Baptist said an “upgraded location was the motivation for the move,” as well as “wanting to be in a high-traffic area.”

The Denver Drive location is open 365 days a year from 7 a.m.-9 p.m.

The relocation from Grandview to Springfield will presumably generate additional sales tax for the city of Springfield, which reinvests a portion of local recreational marijuana sales back into the community. Three percent of the taxes are split evenly between pensions for the police and fire departments and programs to incentivize economic development on the city’s east side.

Maribis also operates a west-side location in the former AMC Parkway Pointe 8 movie theater at 3025 Lindbergh Blvd., which opened in April 2022.