Sales of recreational pot — and long lines for buyers — resume on second day of legalization

Customers wait outside Sunnyside, a pot dispensary in Wrigleyville, before it opens Thursday for the second day of legal sales of recreational marijuana in Illinois. | Stefano Esposito/Sun-Times

Kayte Moody and her boyfriend, Jack Crawford, drove 4 1/2 hours from Kentucky Wednesday — only to be turned away from a North Side pot dispensary because too many people were ahead of them in line.

So the 20-something couple rose early Thursday to be sure they wouldn’t encounter the same problem.

“We wanted to be part of the experience. Anywhere in the country, we’ve got to fly to go experience something like this,” said Crawford, as he and Moody stepped out of Sunnyside, a dispensary on the North Side.

Both carried little tangerine shopping bags containing gummies and marijuana flowers.

To be sure, lines were long Thursday. How they compared to the first day of legal pot sales in Illinois wasn’t always clear. Store managers either referred questions to corporate types or said they were too busy to talk.

By 9:05 a.m., about 130 people were waiting in line at Sunnyside. To avoid blocking the sidewalk in front of other businesses, customers were directed by a security team to a vacant store on the other side of the street, about a block away. They were then led in groups of 12 or so back to the pot shop.

“I don’t work until the weekend. So I figured I’d just come by, stand in line and see how long it takes,” said Ross Berman, 29, an online journalist who writes about wrestling and lives in Lake View. “If I can get in, great. If they still have stuff available, even better.”

Not everyone was quite so patient. A 30-year-old man who agreed to be identified only as “Anthony,” said he and his girlfriend didn’t like the wait at Sunnyside. They headed to NuMed Chicago, in the 1300 block of North Avenue, where lines appeared to be slightly shorter.

Anthony did say, however, that long lines were to be expected.

“It feels like Prohibition has been lifted again — like it was back in my grandparents’ time,” he said.

Keith Thornton, from Matteson, said he’d thought about heading to a dispensary on Wednesday but didn’t want to deal with the long lines.

“The prices, they’re a little higher than what’s on the black/street markets, but ... you get a different choice and you get a lot of different organics that can be a little more safer,” said Thornton, who said he uses pot to control chronic bank pain. “At the end of the day, you know you’re not going to get robbed coming here.”

People lined up early Wednesday before Sunnyside opened for the first day of legal sales of recreational marijuana. Some people skipped the first day to avoid the lines, but Sunnyside also had dozens of people waiting when it opened on Thursday.