SHANGRI-LA
IN THE NEWS

Shangri-La launches Project Paradise nationwide community initiative
Greenway Magazine
May 15, 2025
Shangri-La Dispensaries today launched Project Paradise, a company-wide volunteer initiative designed to foster meaningful service and social responsibility, and give back to the local communities where its professionals live and work. Jocelyn Cerda, Shangri-La’s Director of Community Impact, said, “Giving back to our communities is a big part of who we are as people. Service brings everyone closer together, lifts our spirits, and improves all of our lives.”

The great cannabis cultivation debate: hand- or machine-trim?
MJBizDaily
Margaret Jackson
May 1, 2025
Choosing whether to trim cannabis by hand or machine is a decision that impacts both the final aesthetic and the perceived quality of marijuana buds as well as a cultivator’s operational efficiency and the bottom line. “The industry acknowledges that hand-trimming is definitely more precise,” said David Risley, director of cultivation at Missouri-based multistate operator Shangri-La Dispensaries, which recently opened a 40,000-square-foot cultivation and manufacturing facility in Connecticut.

Shangri-La aims to sell cannabis for 30% less in 2026
Nancy on Norwalk
Kalleen Rose Ozanic
April 30, 2025
The cannabis purveyor that controls two-thirds of the city’s recreational market aims to bring major price reductions in 2026 that may resonate throughout Connecticut. By early 2026, Patel said, Shangri-La will have control of its entire cannabis supply chain in the Nutmeg State. This vertical integration will undoubtedly lower prices next year for its Norwalk cannabis consumers and those across the state. “We’d be able to reduce prices by (about) 30 percent,” Patel said.

Shangri-La Dispensary Customers Donate to Food Bank Veterans Program
Columbia Daily Tribune
Charles Dunlap
April 15, 2025
Marijuana dispensary Shangri-La recently urged its customers to bring a different type of herb to its locations in Columbia and Jefferson City in support of the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri. The locations were holding a drive to collect herbs, spices and food for the food bank’s VIP Veteran Pack program known as a “Herb for Herb” drive.

Shangri-La customers donated more than 1,111 pounds of food, spices and herbs, and collection continues through Sunday. The Columbia Superstore at 1401 Creekwood Parkway collected 533 pounds, Columbia South at 3919 Peachtree Drive collected 237 pounds and the Jefferson City location at 2118 Missouri Blvd. collected 341 pounds.

“Shangri-La’s customers really showed up to support The Food Bank’s Mission. Shangri-La’s continued support of The Food Bank is very much appreciated,” said Clay Stem, Food and Fund Drive Coordinator for The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri.

Stores, dispensaries expected to open in Connecticut in 2025
CT Insider
December 31, 2024
Katherine Lutge, Luther Turmelle
East Hartford will welcome a drive-thru dispensary next year near the Glastonbury border. Shangri-La is opening at 32 Main St., where customers can order ahead and pick up their orders in the drive-thru lanes. A third Shangri-La drive-thru cannabis dispensary is slated to open at 85 Spencer St. in 2025. Shangri-La is replacing an old Starbucks that moved to another location.

Shangri-La joins city’s pot boom
Waterbury Republican-American
November 25, 2024
Steve Bigham
The Shangri-La cannabis retail shop is now open at 53 Interstate Lane, the third such operation to open in the city since the state legalized marijuana in 2021. Shangri-La’s 15,000-square-foot building will also serve as a marijuana manufacturing plant, the first of its kind in Waterbury.

Norwalk’s Shangri-La cannabis dispensary opens on Connecticut Ave, with drive-thru launching Tuesday
CT Post
December 3, 2024
Kalleen Rose Ozanic
The city’s third and final cannabis dispensary, a pink and purple Shangri-La retail spot, opened on Monday about a week after the company’s leaders estimated. The candy-colored drive-thru dispensary at 75 Connecticut Ave. is the cannabis company’s second retail location in Norwalk, joining another at 430 Main Ave.

Plainville marijuana store opens, but plans for an urgent care in same plaza are unclear
The Bristol Press
October 30, 2024
Brendan Crowley
The first marijuana store in Plainville has opened its doors, becoming the first business to open in a new plaza on New Britain Avenue. Shangri-La CEO Nevil Patel said the company looked at areas of the state that were underserved without a marijuana retailer.

Norwalk’s 1st drive-thru cannabis dispensary to open this month, as Shangri-La builds CT ‘footprint’
The Norwalk Hour
Sep 28, 2024
Kalleen Rose Ozanic
Bedecked in a pink and purple exterior, the city’s third cannabis dispensary — and second from the purveyor Shangri-La — will open in less than a month. Norwalk’s first and only drive-thru dispensary at 75 Connecticut Ave. is nearly fully staffed ahead of opening at the end of November, according to Shangri-La President Kepal Patel. “Everything is going according to the plan,” Patel said. “The construction timeline, everything, is sticking to the schedule.”

Shangri-La’s aggressive CT expansion totals 6 cannabis dispensaries, 1 grow site by 2025
The Norwalk Hour
Sep 28, 2024
Kalleen Rose Ozanic
It began with the April opening of one Norwalk dispensary, but national cannabis purveyor Shangri-La now plans a rapid expansion across Connecticut with a new grow site and five more dispensaries — three of which will be opening in the next three months.

Shangri-La builds pink and purple cannabis dispensary in Norwalk
The Norwalk Hour
Aug 12, 2024
Kalleen Rose Ozanic
A shiny, sleek pink, purple and white Shangri-La recreational cannabis dispensary will bring “photo opportunities” to customers as it ushers in “contemporary” design to the Connecticut Avenue retail corridor, the company’s CEO said. Shangri-La CEO Nevil Patel said that his company looks to break barriers both in the cannabis industry and in architectural design with its second Norwalk location; it doesn’t hurt that the vibrant design “helps get attention,” Patel said.

Recreational marijuana sales have begun in Ohio today, August 6, 2024
Cleveland.com/Plain Dealer
August 7, 2024
John Kuntz
Shangri-La dispensary in Cleveland was able to sell recreational marijuana to customers today.

‘It’s Electric’: Local Dispensaries See Long Lines on First Day of Recreational Marijuana Sales
Cleveland Plain Dealer
August 7, 2024
At Shangri-La Dispensary on St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland, manager Michael Hughes said the store had been open for three hours and already had 60 customers. That’s typically what it would see in an entire day before recreational cannabis was legalized.

Delphos Recreational Marijuana Sales Are Now Underway
The Lima News
August 7, 2024
Craig Kelly
Recreational marijuana sales will now take place in Delphos after a proposed prohibition of commercial cultivation and sales failed to garner sufficient votes from city council members Monday. “Shangri-La’s staff have been training and preparing for months in anticipation of adult-use sales today in Ohio,” [CEO Nevil Patel] said in the statement. “We’re prepared to provide recreational use customers with the safe, quality access to cannabis we’ve been delivering to our medical customers.”

Monroe businesses to start selling recreational marijuana today
Journal-News
August 6, 2024
Rick McCrabb
The four medical marijuana businesses in the city of Monroe have been approved to start selling adult-use cannabis this morning. The two Shangri-La Dispensary Ohio locations, and The Landing Dispensary, have been approved, according to workers and phone recordings there.

Ohio Dispensaries in Cleveland, Lorain, and Canton Prepare for Influx
Times of Cannabis
August 5, 2024
Emily Wilson
In Cleveland, dispensaries like Shangri La on St. Clair Avenue are preparing for a surge in business. The dispensary has secured a dual license, allowing it to sell both medical and recreational cannabis. General Manager Michael Hughes expressed relief and excitement about the upcoming sales, noting that the team has been working tirelessly to get everything in place. The dispensary has increased its staff and stocked up on products to ensure they can meet the expected demand.

Recreational marijuana sales to begin in Ohio Tuesday; several Cincinnati-area dispensaries will be ready
ABC News 9 TV Cincinnati
August 3, 2024
Felicia Jordan
Recreational marijuana will be up for sale in several Cincinnati-area dispensaries beginning Tuesday. (Shangri-La locations mentioned)

Ohio regulators are notifying marijuana dispensaries they can begin recreational sales Tuesday
Cleveland.com
August 2, 2024
Laura Hancock
The Ohio Division of Cannabis Control notified medical marijuana dispensaries on Friday that they will receive certificates of operation to begin recreational sales on Tuesday. This means the wait for Ohioans who voted for the initiated statute to legalize marijuana for adults aged 21 and older will soon be over. (Shangri-La locations mentioned)

‘Go day is finally here’: Ohio dispensaries get green light to start recreational sales
CBS Local 12 TV Cincinnati
August 3, 2024
Katie Amrhein
Now that the drug will become more accessible, it will impact not just dispensaries but local businesses as well. Biggby Coffee in Monroe sits next to Shangri-La Dispensary. “Some of the [dispensary] workers also do come over and buy coffee, and there are people that I’ve had conversations with, and they say that they came from over there. I think it’s going to help us and just all the businesses around us also,” said Biggby Coffee employee Lily Bush.

Cleveland dispensaries prepare for a rush of recreational marijuana customers Tuesday
CBS 19 News Cleveland
August 2, 2024
Kelly Kennedy
After months of uncertainty, the Division of Cannabis Control has given some dispensaries the green light to sell marijuana recreationally in Ohio starting next Tuesday. Shangri La Dispensary on St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland has spent the past year selling marijuana to medical patients, now they’re one of the first dispensaries in the city to get a dual license to sell both.

As Norwalk drive-thru cannabis shop is built, Shangri-La lends space for I-95 overpass rebuild
The Norwalk Hour
July 30, 2024
Kalleen Rose Ozanic
With construction on schedule, a drive-thru recreational cannabis dispensary at 75 Connecticut Ave. should open before the end of the year, Shangri-La’s president and project manager said. The project is moving along even as Shangri-La Dispensaries lends some space at the northern end of its construction site to the Connecticut Department of Transportation as it rebuilds the Fairfield Avenue bridge torn down after it was consumed by a massive blaze in May.

Missouri-based marijuana dispensary opens first Illinois location in Springfield
Springfield State Journal-Register
July 12, 2024
Claire Grant
A minority-owned cannabis dispensary is officially open in Springfield. Owners of Shangri-La Dispensaries cut the ribbon on their new store at 3128 S. Dirksen Parkway on July 11 to signify the occasion. The store has been under construction for the past eight months.

After approval of Waterbury retail marijuana operation, company seeks OK for cannabis manufacturing
Hartford Business Journal
July 10, 2024
Michael Puffer
A Missouri-based company recently approved to open a recreational cannabis shop in Waterbury is now seeking zoning changes to allow an associated multimillion-dollar marijuana products manufacturing operation. In April, Waterbury’s Zoning Commission signed off on a special permit for a retail cannabis shop run by Missouri-based Shangri-La in leased space at 53 Interstate Lane.

Construction kicks off on Norwalk’s only drive-thru cannabis dispensary
The Norfolk Hour
June 17, 2024
Kalleen Rose Ozanic
Excavators are at work at Shangri-La’s incoming drive-thru dispensary site at 75 Connecticut Ave., leading up to an opening expected at the end of the year, according to company representatives. PAC Group, a Torrington-based contractor, broke ground on the site the same day Shangri-La ceremonially opened Norwalk’s second dispensary last month, according to Nevil Patel, CEO, and Kepal Patel, president.

The Expanding Tao of Shangri-La
Cannabis Business Executive
June 12, 2024
Tom Hymes
The fictional Shangri-La was a hidden valley tucked into the western end of Tibet’s Kunlun Mountains; a mystical paradise isolated from the world. For brothers Nevil and Kepal Patel, however, Shangri-La means the opposite of isolation. Instead, they are in the process of bringing their own vision of Shangri-La to the masses by way of the mystical cannabis plant. Founded in Missouri in 2019, the privately held and minority-owned company has expanded its vertical footprint to include Ohio, Illinois, and Connecticut and is actively executing plans to expand that footprint into new markets.

Norwalk’s 2nd recreational cannabis dispensary ushers in Shangri-La’s growth in CT
The Norfolk Hour
May 25, 2024
Kalleen Rose Ozanic
The opening of Norwalk’s second recreational cannabis dispensary is a sign of how much public perception of the drug has changed since it became legal in Connecticut. “I bet you never thought you’d see the day when a former police chief was cutting a ribbon for a cannabis dispensary,” Mayor Harry Rilling said to a small crowd of Shangri-La leadership, shoppers and local officials from a podium in front of the 430 Main Ave. cannabis shop on Thursday afternoon.

With Expanded Footprint, Shangri-La Becomes One of the Largest Cannabis Multistate Operators in the US (BusinessWire)
May 20, 2024
Shangri-La Dispensaries, a vertically integrated cannabis company with significant dispensary, manufacturing and cultivation operations nationally, celebrated today that its recent Northeast expansion qualifies it as one of the most geographically diverse multistate operators in the United States.

47 Ohio Localities Enact Cannabis Moratoriums Ahead of Adult-Use Sales Launch
Cannabis Business Times
Tony Lange
May 13, 2024
Shangri-La has four retail locations in Ohio, but its “superstore” in Monroe is the company’s largest dispensary in the state. “We know from talking to customers at our four Ohio locations that people want access to safe, affordable and convenient cannabis products throughout the state,” Shangri-La CEO Nevil Patel told CBT. “We’re planning to open four more locations in Ohio this year to meet that demand.” Those additional locations are still being considered based on customer needs, community support and local laws, he said.

KYP Shangri-LA
The Delphos Herald
April 30, 2024
Shangri-La Dispensaries today opened its newest Ohio medical cannabis dispensary at 215 West Fifth Street in Delphos. “Shangri-La’s Ohio locations are helping local customers find the cannabis products they need. We’re pleased to provide access to medical cannabis to the Delphos community and regional customers,” said Nevil Patel, CEO of Shangri-La Dispensaries.

Norwalk’s second marijuana dispensary officially opens, celebrates 4/20
News-12 Connecticut (and Westchester)
April 20, 2024
Norwalk’s second cannabis retailer in just under a month held its grand opening on Saturday in celebration of 4/20 day. “We hauled to get here to open up on 4/20 day. Definitely don’t want to miss out on the holiday,” said Clayton Bigger, manager of Shangri-La Norwalk. Shangri-La is open for business after its final approval on Monday. Staff said the key to their customer service is attention to detail. “It’s not all about just THC percentage. What sort of terpenes does it have? How was this specific product grown? What sort of pesticides went in? We gather lab results,” said Nevil Patel, the CEO of Shangri-La.

With Grand Opening of Norwalk Retail Location, Shangri-La Joins Growing CT Cannabis Market
CTInsider
Karen Tensa
April 20, 2024
Shangri-La Dispensaries is the newest cannabis company in Connecticut after it officially opened a location on Main Avenue in Norwalk on Saturday. Shangri-La Dispensaries also operates cannabis stores in Ohio, Illinois and Missouri, and it has announced plans to open outlets in the Nutmeg State in East Hartford, Plainville and Waterbury, as well as a manufacturing production facility in Stratford.

Soft Opening of Norwalk’s 2nd Cannabis Dispensary ‘Going Smoothly’ Before Official 4/20 launch
The Norfolk Hour
Kalleen Rose Ozanic
April 19, 2024
The city’s second cannabis dispensary officially opens Saturday, an insider’s nod to the day on which many cannabis consumers pay homage to the drug: April 20. Despite the official opening on “420 Day,” as it is colloquially known, Shangri-La CEO Nevil Patel said the Norwalk location held a soft launch on Friday to “work out any kinks.” “
We actually did a soft opening that was more unannounced (Friday), but the official date is” Saturday, Patel said Friday. “I’ve been assured that, so far, it’s been going smoothly.”

A Drive-Thru Cannabis Shop Is Coming to East Hartford, Just over the Glastonbury Line
CT Insider
Steven Goode
February 21, 2024
You won’t be able to get a milkshake or a side of fries at this drive-thru, but you will be able to pick up your order of cannabis at the new retail facility planned for Main Street.
“We picked the East Hartford location for the convenience of area residents and to provide the community with a new building that will create jobs and economic opportunities,” Shangri-La CEO Nevil Patel said Wednesday. “The new building also allows for a drive-thru window, which is part of Shangri-La’s commitment to serving customers easily, especially those with conditions that limit their mobility.”