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A smoke shop with six area locations plans to expand to a Fountain Square building where a liquor store was planned but never materialized.
Higher Grade, co-owned by Ian Hull and Alex Ostrovsky, is targeting a May debut at 1126 Prospect St., which served as headquarters for heating and air-conditioning service company Koehring & Sons Inc. from the mid-1970s to 2020.
CBD and vape retailer Higher Grade presently operates two locations in Noblesville plus single stores in Fishers, Carmel, Avon and at the intersection of 86th Street and Zionsville Road in Indianapolis. Hull said the existing shops project revenues exceeding $6 million in 2023.
Crown Liquors, a chain of nearly 20 liquor stores in central Indiana, unveiled plans in 2021 to open a location at 1126 Prospect St. Neighborhood merchant and resident groups opposed the idea, citing concerns related to loitering, litter, security and increased traffic. In the end, Crown did not obtain a liquor license for the 13,000-square-foot building.
Hull said Higher Grade plans to be a good neighbor on the Prospect Street block that includes Turchetti’s Delicatessen & Meat Market, White Rabbit Cabaret, Hero House comic book store, Revolucion restaurant and Fountain Square Tattoo.
“We’ve always been well-received in the community,” Hull said. “We don’t have any negative backlash. … We build a professional store with professional employees that look the part. Customer service is very important. We don’t give people a whole lot of reasons to not like us. If they don’t like us, it’s something that’s probably out of our control.”
In 2018, Indiana legalized the sale of cannabidiol, also known as CBD, a substance derived from marijuana and hemp. Higher Grade will become the fourth CBD retailer in Fountain Square, joining Tillberry’s Fountain Square Vape and More, 1022 Virginia Ave.; Popular Smoke & Vape Indy, 874 Virginia Ave.; and Mona, which shares a space with Rooftop Fruit gift shop at 1058 Virginia Ave.
Beyond CBD and vape products, Higher Grade plans to sell pipes, papers, glass products and international snacks and beverages.
“‘Smoke shop’ is the broad term that we use,” Hull said. “But if you say that to most folks, they think of a dingy hole in the wall with poor lighting. There’s no good term in the market right now for how to describe a store that has a professional approach, because we’re not the norm.”
According to property records, Higher Grade purchased the building in January from Koehring & Sons for $1.1 million. The smoke shop will occupy about 3,500 square feet, with the rest of the building devoted to offices and warehouse operations.
Hull, a Covenant Christian High School alum, and Ostrovsky, a Carmel High School alum, opened their first Higher Grade store in Noblesville in 2018.
Ostrovksy said the Fountain Square store can serve as a model for what a retail dispensary could be if Indiana legalizes cannabis for medical or recreational use.
“This location will look like and feel like a high-end dispensary in one of our neighboring states,” Ostrovsky said. “If [legalization] happens and we happen to be a beneficiary of whatever system is in place, we’ll be prepared to do it on Day One.”
In Indiana and on a federal level, marijuana remains illegal and is listed as a Schedule I drug, a tier reserved for drugs with a high potential for abuse and no medicinal benefit, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
The recreational use of cannabis is legal in 21 states, including Illinois and Michigan.
If Higher Grade doesn’t become a cannabis dispensary, Hull and Ostrovsky said their stores maintain a bright future. They said demand for smoke shops selling marijuana-related accessories increases when cannabis dispensaries debut.
Dating to the 1920s, the brick building at 1126 Prospect St. initially was home to an auto dealership. Koehring & Sons exited the building and moved to a Beech Grove facility during the pandemic.
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This makes four smoke shops all within walking distance of the fountain…how disappointing!
No joke, how many do we need!!!
At least we purchased the building – everyone else is renting. We are truly invested in the area.