Ingleside’s latest small business is a high-end cannabis shop. Kushology, the neighborhood’s second cannabis store, opened on Ocean Avenue on Tuesday.
A steady flow of customers kept staff busy on the first morning of business, and pre-rolls were flying off the shelves. Aesthetically pleasing design and a wall of lush artificial moss greeted customers as they entered.
James, one of the first customers who declined to give his last name, said he liked the shop's atmosphere.
“I always saw that it was closed when I came by on the Muni, but today I saw it was open, so I thought I’ve gotta check it out,” he said.
Sam Carmel, an Inglesider who works at City College of San Francisco’s Art Gallery, called the shop’s location near the college “ideal.”
“I'm just happy to see it open,” Carmel said. “San Francisco has been more prohibitive of the cannabis industry in recent years, when the licensing got really strict.”
Kushology manager Stella McMenamy. | John R. Adkins/Ingleside Light
Kushology owners Tyler Makras and Patrick Hill have been developing the business for years.
“December has been five years in the making,” Makras said. “It’s always been a dream to be my own boss, and finally seeing this open is very exciting.”
Makras and Hall spent three and a half years obtaining authorization from the city to operate.
The shop was approved as an equity applicant, a designation meant to lower the barriers to those seeking to enter the cannabis business who have been hardest hit by the War on Drugs, because Hall attended San Francisco public schools.
Then another year to get the storefront and business operations in order, while they waited on approval from the Office of Cannabis and the state.
“The city definitely has to make sure we check a lot of boxes in order to get open,” Makras said.
Kushology co-owner Tyler Makras. | John R. Adkins/Ingleside Light
Kushology offers a curated menu of high-quality brands such as Red Beard, Upnorth and Fog Farms.
Manager Stella McMenamy said the staff want to create an open and “welcoming vibe” that balances the feel of a therapeutic pharmacy with a candy store aesthetic by having goods in glass jars.
“We only stock products that we would consume,” McMenamy said. “We test all of our products.”
McMenamy said many members of the community had been anticipating the shop for a long time and that Kushology was proud to finally be a part of the community.
“We want to feel like we’re a part of this community from day one,” Makras said.
Makras, 25, was born and raised in San Francisco. Makras said he dealt in sneakers in his youth, before studying real estate development and entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California. He has worked for his father’s real estate company, Makras Real Estate.
“We had to take a business proposal through all stages of development,” Makras said. “Most kids just created a fake business, but I already knew this was what I wanted to do.”
The aesthetic is meant to resemble a candy shop. | John R. Adkins/Ingleside Light
Makras and company plan to host an event to engage the community and generate local buzz. A live music setup is planned for Sunday, and merchandise drops for Kushology T-shirts and hats are in the works.
Kushology is offering a 26% discount for its first month of business and will soon provide a student discount.
Makras said he wants Kushology to become a household name for cannabis consumers, with multiple locations across the city.
John R. Adkins is a San Francisco-based journalist and storyteller living in Ingleside. He is editor-in-chief of City College's student-run publication The Guardsman and reports on higher education, politics and the arts.
