Business
AgLife
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Thursday, July 28, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Pot shops
see decline
in prices
Median price for usable
cannabis in Oregon is down
19% from last year
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Pendleton cannabis
stores are weathering the latest trend in their
industry — declining prices at the counter.
The Portland Business Journal has
reported the median price for usable can-
nabis in Oregon is down 19% from last year.
The drop is happening while inflation is
driving up the costs of fuel and groceries
nationwide.
Brandon Krenzler is co-owner of Kind
Leaf, one of the four cannabis dispensaries
operating in Pendleton. He said he sees a
few factors at play in the price drop.
“Everyone is spending their paycheck on
food and fuel,” he said. “When people are
spending more on gas, food, they don’t have
as much to spend on cannabis.”
And transportation costs, he said, “are
killing everybody.”
Kind Leaf co-owner Erin Purchase con-
curred and said it’s not just prices at the
pump and grocery stores that have been
rising, but also utilities are costing more.
“I think we’re seeing a decline in vices,
cannabis sales in particular,” she said.
Krenzler also said an oversupply of
product is pushing down prices. He pointed
to Canada as a major source for that
abundance.
The United States’ northern neighbor
has allowed “huge, major players to come
in,” he said, with massive greenhouses that
come with big harvests. Too much product,
and the prices plummet. That comes with
some dire consequences, he said.
Larger farms and out-of-state farms
might have more cushion against hard eco-
nomic times, Krenzler explained, and can
afford to lower their prices and recover to
keep paying their bills. But smaller farms
have less cushion, and sometimes they have
investors to pay back. The situation allows
big cannabis farms to cannibalize small
farms.
Kind Leaf carries about 160 strains it
sources from a variety of farms with a focus
on family-owned, craft farmers, Krenzler
said, and not all of those business partners
are making it.
“We’re seeing a lot of farms going out of
business,” Krenzler said, including a couple
of cannabis producers Kind Leaf carries.
“Some of their products on our shelves are
See, Prices/Page B6
Yasser Marte/East Oregonian
Chris Adams, morning supervisor at Thur’s Smoke
Shop, Pendleton, shows a jar of marijuana buds on
Monday, July 25, 2022. Cannabis prices have fallen
in Oregon, and local dispensaries report customers
are tending to buy less expensive product.
Shannon Golden/The Observer
Corri Klebaum, branch manager and adviser at Finance of America Mortgage, stands in front of her newly renovated storefront on Wednesday,
July 20, 2022. The branch received a grant for the facade renovation through La Grande’s Main Street Downtown Facade Grant Program.
A NEW LOOK
La Grande’s Finance of America Mortgage branch
receives a revamp with the help of La Grande Main
Street Downtown and Urban Renewal Agency
By SHANNON GOLDEN • The Observer
L
A GRANDE — Thanks to La Grande Main Street
Downtown’s Facade Grant Program, one of Adams
Avenue’s newest additions just got a facelift.
La Grande’s branch of Finance of
America Mortgage, 1214 Adams Ave.,
received the grant funded by the city’s
Urban Renewal Agency for renovations
to its storefront this year. With fresh
paint and new signage and window
trimmings, the building that once
housed Tap That Growler now has a
markedly different feel.
Corri Klebaum, branch manager
and mortgage adviser of the La Grande
branch, moved to town in July 2018.
She set up shop at a few other offices
around town, but kept her eyes peeled
for a larger space on Adams Avenue.
She moved into the branch’s current
location a year ago and applied for the
grant while finishing the last details on
the interior renovations that began in
March 2021. Now, with the business’
newly renovated storefront on the main
drag, Klebaum has found what she
called her “forever home.”
“Our goal is not only to be great
loan advisers, but to be good stewards
of this building and honor the history
that’s here,” Klebaum said of her inten-
tions for the new space.
Klebaum, who grew up in Oregon
and Washington, never thought she’d
find herself in La Grande — but she’s
not complaining. Her oldest daughter,
Jordan, went to school at Eastern
Oregon University, fell in love with La
Grande and got a teaching job in Union
County. Corri Klebaum and her family
decided to see for themselves. She
pitched an idea for a satellite branch
with the higher-ups at the national com-
Shannon Golden/The Observer
A sign welcomes customers into Finance of
America Mortgage’s La Grande branch, 1214
Adams Ave., on Wednesday, July 20, 2022.
The branch received a grant for the facade
renovation through La Grande’s Main Street
Downtown Facade Grant Program.
pany, and in 2018, she and her husband
of 30 years, Kirk, moved to La Grande
with their two youngest daughters. Her
parents followed suit.
Klebaum credited Union County
for its giving and close-knit nature,
recalling the generous donations col-
lected at the first Eastern Oregon Live-
stock Show she and her family attended
while considering the move.
“We definitely wanted to raise our
kids in this community,” she said.
At present, Klebaum and her
assistant, Andi Warn, are the only
employees in the office. Still, with
mortgage licenses in 11 states, Kle-
baum keeps busy. She serves more than
75 families in the area, from first home
purchases to high dollar investment
properties.
The grant funded the renovation of
the facade, but the revamp didn’t stop
at the front door. Klebaum finished
remodeling the building’s interior in
late May, replacing the darkened space
with crisp, bright colors and fixtures.
The building, constructed in 1892
by an early settler to La Grande, is one
of the latest grant recipients of the pro-
gram. For 10 years running, the pro-
gram has aimed to incentivize down-
town businesses to repair and preserve
their storied facades.
“We are not going to approve any
renovations that deteriorate the historic
character,” Taylor Scroggins, the exec-
utive director of La Grande Main Street
Downtown, noted.
Businesses can apply for up to two
grants every four years, for unique
projects. From signage repair to brick-
work and paint jobs, between four and
five business owners apply yearly.
See, Revamp/Page B6
Z’s BBQ moves into historic Lostine Tavern
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
LOSTINE — It’s not
often a new business comes
to Lostine, but Z’s BBQ has
set up shop in the historic
Lostine Tavern.
“It’s a neat, historic
building that’s been here for
a hundred years plus and
it’s been different things,”
said Dan Zieman, who with
wife, Autumn, owns and
operates the business. “It’s
neat to have that. I know it
used to be a totally different
thing in the same building.
What we’re looking to do is
serve really good food in a
fun atmosphere as a place
where you want to hang out.
That’s our goal.”
Z’s was formerly located
outside at The Depot
between Enterprise and
Joseph, where Autumn’s
mother and sister operate a
bed-and-breakfast and her
brother and his girlfriend
operate a sushi bar.
A home base
Zieman said he wants to
contribute to — not detract
from — the historic char-
acter of the Lostine Tavern.
As a result, there will be no
name change.
“What the official name
will be is the Lostine
Tavern, Home of Z’s BBQ,”
he said. “It’s had that name
for however long (and)
there’s no reason to change
that. We’ll add a little bit
of a sign to the sign that’s
already there.”
The tavern building,
built in 1902, originally
housed a pharmacy and
doctor’s office. It also has
been the home to a soda
fountain, a tavern and a
farm-to-table restaurant.
The building also includes
an apartment upstairs.
From their former loca-
tion at The Depot, the Zie-
mans did their slow cooking
of Texas barbecue-style
meat and either sold it as
takeout and ran a barbecue
truck to various events.
“(Autumn’s) family still
operates The Depot and we
wanted to move on so we
moved out here,” Zieman
said. “We still move the
food truck around — we
haven’t gotten rid of that
side of things — but we’ve
got a home base now here.”
Now they can welcome
about 100 diners and still
The menu
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
From left, Autumn Zieman, Dan Zieman and Jon Larson on
Wednesday, July 13, 2022, pose at the bar at the historic Lostine
Tavern where their business, Z’s BBQ, is now located. The Ziemans
are working to get a liquor license and should be ready to serve
liquor, beer and wine by September.
maintain the take-out and
food truck. Each Monday,
the truck is parked at the
Wallowa Lake Lodge and
on weekends they cater or
attend various community
events. The Lostine loca-
tion will be open Tues-
days, Wednesdays and
Thursdays.
The menu consists of a
half-pound of either pulled
pork, ribs or brisket served
with various sides, such as
baked beans and bread.
“My alarm’s going off
at 3 in the morning to get
up and get the fire started
and get meat on by 4 a.m.
because we start service by
4 in the afternoon,” Zieman
said. “Those things that
we’re cooking take between
eight and 12 hours some-
times. It’s a long process,
but it’s good barbecue —
ribs and brisket, pulled pork
and we do different specials
pretty regularly.”
The menu is nearly all
homemade.
“Almost everything we
See, Lostine/Page B6