Cannabis brand to open CBD shops at Simon malls nationwide

2/12/2019
A veteran retail executive will now bring products infused with the cannabis extract CBD to a wide swath of the public with the cooperation of the nation’s largest mall operator.

Peter Horvath, former president of DSW and COO of Victoria’s Secret, will open a chain of stores selling CBD-infused beauty and personal-care products at Simon Malls this year, with the first slated to open at Castleton Square Mall in Indianapolis in March. CBD is short for cannabidiol, the legal compound in cannabis that advocates say delivers the calming benefits of marijuana without the high that comes from THC.

The deal was announced by Simon Property Group and cannabis and CBD product company Green Growth Brands Inc. (Horvath was named CEO of GGB last March. Prior to that, he served as chief global commercial and administrative officer at American Eagle Outfitters.)

The agreement gives GGB access to 108 “prime” locations in Simon malls through which it will expand its CBD-infused product shops under its Seventh Sense Botanical Therapy brand and other GGB brands.

Through a consulting agreement with GGB Kiosks LLC, Simon will receive $2.2 million in common shares in the company plus one million common share purchase warrants with an exercise price of $4.47.

GGB senior executive team is rounded out by Horvath’s retail colleagues Scott Razek, Ed Kistner, and Kellie Wurtzman. Razek led the creative and marketing teams for Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, and American Eagle Outfitters; Kistner is a 33-year veteran of retail operations, and Wurtzmann managed brands including Victoria’s Secret and Virgin Entertainment. The management team is looking to apply their consumer marketing backgrounds in establishing GGB as a mass marketer of products infused with CBD.

In a TV interview last October with Jim Cramer, Horvath said Green Growth had put together “arguably one of the top retail teams in any market, let alone cannabis.”

The Columbus, Ohio-based company has raised in excess of $100 million to fund its startup.
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