The Bold Italic’s 2020 Awards

San Francisco’s Best Dispensary of 2020: The Apothecarium

The Apothecarium managed to expand its offerings and locations despite a rocky year

Sophia Smith
4 min readDec 17, 2020

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A spacious dispensary. A budtender helps a customer at the counter. 2 people talk on a couch. 1 person’s walking in.
Photo: The Apothecarium

This article is part of The Bold Italic’s 2020 Awards, which celebrate the Bay Area’s small businesses and local residents who have hustled and shown creativity throughout 2020. See all the award winners here.

The experience of buying weed has certainly come a long way, and The Apothecarium stands at the vanguard. Founded in San Francisco by a group of cousins and friends back in 2011, the dispensary has since expanded to include locations in the East Bay, Capitola, and Las Vegas and even has a presence on the East Coast in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The Apothecarium makes the whole experience of purchasing cannabis highbrow yet welcoming. The dispensary has a particular focus on educating and supporting the types of marijuana users who might otherwise find themselves at a bit of a loss.

During the pandemic, dispensaries were considered essential businesses from the get-go, so they haven’t had to completely close, but they have encouraged more people to choose delivery or place orders for pickup. To reduce in-person time, instead of chatting about your needs…

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Sophia Smith

writer and editor // Ⓥ // Heavy weights, heavy music, words of all size