While the exterior of a former fortune-teller space at the corner of Hollister and Fairview remains unassuming, the bright red signs for Megan’s Organic Market invite locals into a cheerful cannabis shop. There’s ample parking, cute shopping baskets, and, inside, friendly budtenders ready to answer your cannabis questions. Megan Souza, the mother of the operation, owns four dispensaries in San Luis Obispo, Corona, El Centro, and now Goleta.
Megan’s is among the most welcoming of Goleta’s five dispensaries. And that’s her modus operandi. Megan began her cannabis career in 2010 with her husband, who owned a farm in Cayucos. “We started with cultivation, then added delivery under Prop. 15 in 2013 for S.L.O. and Santa Barbara counties,” she said. “Our all-female delivery staff wore cute handmade aprons and carried picnic baskets. People loved it.”
Those people, who Megan thought would primarily be college students, were folks wary of other cannabis delivery services but curious about products for medicinal support. “Our brand attracts people new to cannabis because it’s approachable,” she said. “We wanted to make the cannabis retail experience more normalized and comfortable. Women who lived alone or the elderly or people with serious health issues were a large part