She’s opening a new CBD shop on the MS Coast. It’s not like others you’ve seen before.
Picture a CBD shop on the Coast. A strip-mall storefront with a neon sign. Merchandise that includes Bud Light and tobacco cigarettes. Maybe the sickly sweet smell of strawberry-scented vape packs.
For those who are simply CBD-curious, they’re not always welcoming places.
Natalie Jones Bonner’s new shop is not like that. Located on the second floor of a historic house on Biloxi’s bustling Howard Avenue, Champagne, Art and CBD on Howard will offer everything from edibles to nutritional supplements to Jones Bonner’s own line of body products including pain ointments and moisturizers.
Her business partner, artist Sabrina Stallworth, will run a gallery space and art shop on the same floor, called All Bottled Up By Bre.
The store smells like a lavender and lemon scented candle. There are floral-printed Victorian chairs arranged around a plush pink rug, where customers can sit and talk with Jones Bonner about CBD. She plans to give shoppers a complimentary glass of champagne to sip while they look around the store.
Jones Bonner, who is 60, hopes the shop will appeal to people exploring CBD, particularly people of her generation.
“That was one of my concerns— I did not want the typical CBD dispensary look and feel,” she said. “Baby Boomers feel intimidated in that environment. I wanted to give them a warm, welcoming environment.”
Mississippi’s growing cannabis market
CBD, short for cannabidiol, is one of the active ingredients in cannabis that doesn’t on its own make users high. Some studies suggest it can help treat insomnia and anxiety, and the FDA recently approved a drug containing CBD to reduce childhood seizures.
In Mississippi, CBD has been legally sold since the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp and CBD products derived from it.
Since then, cannabis moves in Mississippi have come quickly. In 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture started issuing licenses for Mississippi farmers to grow hemp, which is the same species as marijuana but contains much less THC, the substance that causes weed’s psychoactive effects.
Then, in November, voters approved medical marijuana. Barring a defeat at the state Supreme Court, the health department will start issuing licenses this summer and consumers could purchase medical cannabis products as soon as early 2022, according to industry experts.
Jones Bonner is already a veteran of Mississippi’s growing cannabis industry.
A decade ago, she watched as recreational marijuana became legal in Colorado and then California. As someone who came of age during the height of the War on Drugs, she grew up with “the stereotypes associated with marijuana,” she said.
But she was interested in the business opportunities in places like Colorado. She started learning about the medicinal and wellness uses of cannabis. She started her own business, Blue Lotus Creations, selling hemp CBD products online.
“Then my advocacy switch was turned on,” she said.
Fighting for equal opportunities
As a proponent of cannabis for wellness and as a Black entrepreneur in the industry, Jones Bonner wants to see the country’s marijuana business boom create opportunities for people of color. She initially joined the Georgia chapter of Minorities for Medical Marijuana while living in Atlanta.
When she moved to Mississippi, she became president of the state’s chapter. In that role, she’s an advocate for cannabis policy that creates equal opportunities for people from the communities most harmed by the War on Drugs, particularly Black Americans.
People of color are underrepresented among cannabis entrepreneurs, in part because in many states getting licensed can be prohibitively expensive, especially because Black business owners more often struggle to access capital to grow.
Meanwhile, even as marijuana laws loosen around the country, Black and Latino Americans are still disproportionately arrested for weed offenses.
“You can’t come into this space as a person of color and not also be an advocate for change when you... understand the whole premise behind the war on drugs was to continue to lock up Black and brown people for something that the majority is capitalizing on, making a financial boon on, when people of color are still being locked up for offenses which are now legal and others are making millions of dollars in,” she said.
Jones Bonner worked to gather signatures for Initiative 65. The most prominent backers of Initiative 65 were white Republicans who stressed that their effort for medical marijuana had no criminal justice implications. Jones Bonner has urged fellow cannabis activists in Mississippi to make equity and racial justice a focus as they push for more liberal marijuana laws.
An art gallery, too
Right next to Jones Bonner’s shop is All Bottled Up By Bre’, a gallery and store run by Stallworth, a Biloxi-born artist. Stallworth will showcase her own art, accessories and leather goods alongside work by other local artists.
In some of her work, she repurposes bottles to create human figures.
She also specializes in leather, which she hand cuts and paints to create accessories like purses. She hopes to use the space for classes, too, like sip and paint parties but with leather goods.
There is no monthly hanging fee for artists who want to display work in the shop, and any sales will be split between the artist and store.
The partners see wellness as an umbrella that covers both art and CBD.
“Art is a stirring of one’s mind, a spiritual journey as well,” Stallworth said.
Jones Bonner’s shop will also sell non-CBD products.
“It’s very important for me to educate my customers on the efficacy of CBD,” Jones Bonner said. “If CBD isn’t the right product for them, I can show them other nutraceuticals.”
Meanwhile, the cannabis movement in Mississippi is pushing forward. Jones Bonner has been working on the effort to put recreational marijuana on the ballot. The Attorney General has drafted a title and summary for Initiative 77, and advocates expect to begin collecting signatures in support later this month.
Jones Bonner said Champagne, Art, & CBD on Howard customers will be able to sign the petition at the shop.
How to visit
What: Ribbon cutting and grand opening of Champagne, Art & CBD on Howard
When: Ribbon cutting is at 10 am on Friday, April 16. Grand opening event is Saturday, April 17, 10 am - 6 p.m.
Where: 989 Howard Avenue, Suite A, Biloxi
For more information:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cacbdonhoward
Email: info@cacbdonhoward.com
Phone: (833) 675-2818
