Legal Mushroom, Hemp Dispensary Shutting Down St. Pete Store

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Chillum, a legal mushroom and hemp dispensary, is closing the doors of its St. Petersburg location.

Sunday is the last day of business at the shop, located at 1916 Central Ave. N.

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The company’s Tampa store at 1714 E. 7th Ave. in Ybor City will remain open.

Chillum had high hopes when it opened St. Petersburg shop opened in September 2023.

“But we’ve been here for three years, three-and-a-half years, and we honestly just didn’t get the business that we were hoping for,” store manager Abby Hettrich told Patch.

With a new wave of businesses moving into this area, the eastern part of the Grand Central District, their landlord also raised their rent.

“I think with everything coming on this block - there didn’t use to be anything over here and then Salt Light opened, and then Wendy’s [Closet] opened … but I think because of all that, they’re [the landlord] is like, ‘Well, you guys can definitely pay more,’” Hettrich said.

Since opening in 2022, Chillum has produced and sold legal alternatives to traditional psilocybin mushrooms, she said.

Chillum was the first company to sell these types of mushrooms in Florida, Hettrich said. “At least mushroom products that were in any way psychedelic or anything like that.”

And the company works “off a good amount of loopholes” to do so legally, she added. The way the mushrooms used in their products are bred, they don’t test positive for psilocybin.

With public conversation swirling around the topic and regulatory pressure, the company leads with an education-focused approach.

This led to the creation of Learn Euphoria, “an education company founded to give people access to structured, responsible information about psychedelics, micro-dosing, mushroom cultivation, and non-detectable tryptamine products,” according to the Chillum website.

While some customers take Chillum’s products to get high, many use them to microdose.

“Microdosing can treat a variety of different things, whether it’s mental ailments, chronic pain, just kind of wanting a day-to-day mood boost, or anything like that,” Hettrich said. “I had my own microdose regimen for quite some time and I’ve heard so many people say how it changes their life.”

The effects of Chillum’s products tend to last three to six hours.

With the closure of the St. Petersburg store, where the company has been manufacturing most of its products, the focus will shift to the Tampa location, she said.

But she doesn’t rule out the brand finding its way back to St. Petersburg down the road.

“I’m pretty sure [the owner] at some point would love another store here,” Hettrich said.

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