MSO Parallel to Shut Down Goodblend Operations in Pennsylvania; 76 Workers Impacted

A multistate cannabis operator no longer sees a future in Pennsylvania’s medical market.

Goodblend Pennsylvania LLC, owned by Parallel, one of the largest privately held, vertically integrated MSOs in the U.S., is closing down a nearly 350,000-square-foot cannabis cultivation and processing facility Sept. 15 in Pittsburgh, putting as many as 76 employees out of work, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The company is also shuttering its medical cannabis retail locations in Friendship and Erie.

Sam Schwartz, vice president of public affairs and corporate impact at Atlanta-based Parallel, provided a prepared statement to the media outlet.

“In connection with a strategic review, we have made the decision to withdraw from the Pennsylvania market in order to serve patients in our other, more established markets, where so many patients and customers rely on us for their cannabis products,” Schwartz said. “As such, Parallel/Goodblend is working with regulators to establish and execute a closure plan over the next 60 days.”

In addition to Pennsylvania, Parallel has ongoing operations in four other medical and adult-use markets: Surterra Wellness in Florida; Goodblend in Texas; New England Treatment Access (NETA) in Massachusetts; and a joint venture with the Cookies retail brand in Nevada. In addition, Parallel entered a $100-million agreement in April 2021 to acquire Windy City Cannabis, a deal that included six dispensaries in Illinois, but that merger failed.

Parallel/Goodblend won its Pennsylvania medical license—good for up to six retail facilities—in August 2020 and announced a 10-year research and development partnership with the University of Pittsburgh that same month, which included an initial $3 million from the company for unrestricted grants.

Three years later, Parallel is exiting a medical market that includes more than 426,000 active patients and 178 operational dispensaries as of June 1, 2023, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Licensed retailers recorded more than $120 million in sales in May 2023—the best May on record—according to the department. However, the average retail price of $9.52 per gram (roughly $270 per ounce) for flower was at an all-time low in May, and the average wholesale price of $4.08 per gram (roughly $116 per ounce or $1,850 per pound) was near an all-time low, according to the department.

Parallel/Goodblend’s market exit comes as the company faces lawsuits and allegations of $5.8 million in unpaid rent and other fees in connection to a 20-year lease the company signed in May 2021 for its cultivation and processing facility, the Post-Gazette reported.

Parallel is not the only cannabis MSO to reassess its footprint in Pennsylvania.

In December, Florida-based Trulieve announced it was reducing its staff at its McKeesport, Pa., cultivation and processing facility just outside of Pittsburgh. These worker cuts were due to “greater efficiencies” throughout the company’s operations, but Trulieve officials did not disclose the number of workers affected.