Two indoor producers growing two very different products informed the state on Aug. 3 that they will be ending their operations, the latest sign of how tough indoor grow operations have become.
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Native Roots, one of Colorado’s foundational marijuana companies, will shut down its indoor grow facility at 4990 Dahlia St. and permanently lay off 141 workers, according to a notice filed with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
The closure will happen on Oct. 2, Jon Boord, CEO of owner NR ParentCo LLC, informed the state in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) letter.
80 Acres Farms, based in Ohio, also filed a WARN letter stating it would lay off 60 workers at its vertical farm at 18000 E. 40th Ave. in Aurora.
Kroger was an investor in and vendor of that company, which supplied microgreens, lettuce, fresh herbs and prepackaged salad kits to King Soopers, Whole Foods and Sprouts locations in the state.
The decision to close came suddenly after a pending sale fell apart at the last minute.
“Without the anticipated transaction proceeds and with no other funding available to sustain operations, the Company was required to make the immediate decision to wind down its business,” co-founders Mike Zelkind and Tisha Livingston said in their WARN letter.
80 Acres established a foothold in Aurora in early 2025 with the purchase of a 90,000-square-foot vertical farm from Kalera, a food tech startup out of Florida that built the facility in 2022 and went bankrupt the following year.
Although 80 Acres purchased the vertical farm at a steep discount and claimed it could grow crops using 95% less water than outdoor methods, high electricity prices proved the company’s undoing.
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In the case of Native Roots, the decision to close its growhouse represents the latest in a string of closures caused by a glutted wholesale cannabis market.
Other closures have included The Cannabist Co., PharmaCann, Green Dragon and Terrapin Care Station.
Boord agreed to sell the bulk of the well-known brand’s retail locations to Verdant Capital Partners in March, retaining a handful of retail locations and the growhouse.
“We believe this transaction represents a constructive outcome for the company and its retail employees and provides a clear path forward for the business,” Boord said in a statement announcing the sale in March.
Verdant’s Native Roots locations are not part of the growhouse closure.
A collapse in wholesale prices, even as retail sales in the state have continued to increase over time, has crushed indoor producers, who face higher operating costs than outdoor producers.
Wholesale flower prices have fallen from $1,700 a pound during a pandemic peak to an average of $575 a pound, according to a July 1 update from the Colorado Department of Revenue.
High-efficiency greenhouses and outdoor operations are producing marijuana at a much lower cost than traditional indoor facilities, which must cope with higher electricity and labor costs.
Producers in Colorado are also prohibited by federal law from exporting their surplus product to other states that have recently legalized and are facing supply shortages.
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