Dispensary opens in Glenrio

GLENRIO - In this border town in far eastern Quay County, a sign for a long-closed spot along Route 66 once proclaimed it as the "First Motel in Texas" and "Last Motel in Texas."

With the opening last week of Glenrio Smoke Stop, it can credibly claim to be the first and last marijuana dispensary in New Mexico.

It also serves as potentially a competitor to the dozen or so similar shops that have opened Tucumcari since last year.

The Glenrio Smoke Stop sits just a few yards west of the border of Texas, where recreational marijuana remains illegal.

It is the first new business in Glenrio in at least four decades. And the investment group that built and opened Glenrio Smoke Stop isn't stopping there.

During a phone interview last week, principals Gabi Tuschak and Erik Spain said they also want to establish an RV park, rebuild the Texas Longhorn Motel, erect a replica of the State Line Bar, open a restaurant and welcome center, and host events.

"We still are dreaming pretty big in terms of having this be a long-term multi-phase project and turning it into a destination," Tuschak said, adding they're setting aside 50% of the shop's profits "to go to rebuilding the town."

Glenrio Smoke Stop is making an effort to inform potential clients of its existence. Tuschak said it will have a total of eight billboards along Interstate 40 advertising it in Tucumcari and San Jon, plus Amarillo, Vega and Adrian in Texas.

Tuschak said their shop hasn't encountered problems with police in the Lone Star State stopping customers after they cross over the border.

But Glenrio Smoke Stop isn't taking chances. In its lobby it posted a map for customers who seek to be more inconspicuous. They can continue west into New Mexico on Old Route 66 for a few miles, turn north onto Highway 93 and re-enter Interstate 40 near Russell's Travel Center.

"We're going to do our best to inform people how to exit back into New Mexico," Tuschak said. "So far, we're we're trying to work with everybody so everybody feels comfortable, and we'll address any concerns as they come up."

Damian Rodriguez, the store's manager, also said customers haven't been stopped by Texas police.

That hasn't kept him from advising caution, however.

"We tell people it's illegal to take product out of the state of New Mexico," he said.

One complication in going west from Glenrio Smoke Stop is flash flooding in May destroyed a bridge on Old Route 66, preventing travelers from continuing on that road to San Jon.

One Glenrio Smoke Stop employee said about 50% of their clients are Texas residents, with the other half that are foreigners traveling Route 66.

Employees also were heard telling customers about the shop's advantages - proximity to Texas, for one - over Tucumcari's dispensaries.

One of the customers was Jeremy, who declined to give his last name. He said he came from Amarillo. He said he frequently rides his motorcycle into New Mexico, including on Route 66 and to the Conchas Lake area.

He said he'd heard Glenrio Smoke Stop was about to open, and he stopped there Thursday to buy cannabis-laced edibles. He said he previously bought marijuana in Clovis and Tucumcari.

"I'm good to support a local business," he said.

Tuschak said the Glenrio Smoke Stop building, designed by Gregg Bliss Architecture in Amarillo, takes inspiration from Route 66. That includes its Streamline Moderne look, its glass bricks and breeze blocks at the entrance and a classic-looking and custom-made neon sign of a bird with a marijuana leaf in its beak. She also credited CKP Construction of Amarillo for the building's appearance.

Inside, the shop offers marijuana flower, vapes, concentrates and edibles, along with assorted paraphernalia.

On one side is a gift shop that offers T-shirts, caps, bath salts, sage, incense and custom apparel that acknowledges its unique location, including "A State Line State of Mind" and "East of Here / West of Here."

Rodriguez said Glenrio Smoke Stop probably will carry Route 66 merchandise soon, too.

Glenrio Smoke Stop suffered a setback over the weekend. One remaining wall of the long-vacant and adjacent State Line Bar, also the town's former post office, collapsed during a storm.

One employee showed surveillance footage of the wall tumbling down in the middle of the night. Pointing to a blurry spot to the right of the wall on the TV screen just before it collapsed, he speculated it was a ghost.

Employees became more intrigued when informed a robber stabbed to death a co-owner of the bar 50 years ago.

Tuschak said that wall was going to be part of an outdoor patio so customers could consume the shop's marijuana products. She said they would do their best to re-create that wall instead.

Some Route 66 preservationists have grumbled because the Glenrio Smoke Stop investors tore down several historic but dilapidated structures during construction.

"I do share share those sentiments, honestly," Tuschak said. "This project has mixed emotions, and it's kind of like performing surgery. We have to, in order to bring it back, demo some of the parts to make it a healthy structure again.

"But that doesn't mean that it's not sad, that we don't feel the same feelings."

Longtime Glenrio resident Roxann Travis said she is "heartbroken" by the project's effects on the town.

"I had been told early on that they wanted to 'bring Glenrio back,' but tearing down numerous structures and replacing them with a dispensary has not accomplished that," Travis texted. "I honestly had the impression they meant to restore - not destroy. And I told one of them they were definitely not winning any popularity contests with the avid Route 66ers.

"What they've done looks nice. It's all cleaned up and most of that was actually (needed), but it's not Glenrio anymore."

Tuschak admitted to some naïveté with their initial plans to restore all the buildings. She said they found out several structures' condition were too far gone and too unsafe.

"We spent many meetings with professionals essentially going over, is there any possible way to save this wall, to reinforce this roof? And at the end of the day, if the answer was no, we didn't really feel like we could in good conscience save it, knowing that we were risking people's safety," she said.

Glenrio never has boasted more than 100 residents, but it counted numerous restaurants and gas stations for decades along U.S. 66.

But the town and its businesses withered quickly when I-40 bypassed it in the 1970s. Its population dwindled to about a half-dozen people.

Glenrio lives on in Route 66 lore because it was a bonafide example of a ghost town created by the interstate highway system.

Glenrio played a pivotal role in Pixar Animation Studios' initial research trip on Route 66 for the 2006 feature film "Cars." Seeing the forlorn and quiet town with I-40 just a short distance away, it inspired the movie's plot point of the fictional Route 66 town of Radiator Springs abandoned by travelers after the bypass.

Rodriguez said he has children who have viewed "Cars" dozens of times.

But now, instead of depression over Glenrio's long-decaying state, he sees hope.

"It would be nice to see this come back to life," he said. "I'm kind of excited."