Story and photos/video by Julie Carasone
The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday afternoon for the official Grand Opening of Empire Hemp Company, a new store at 204 East Main Street in Batavia.
Shelly Wolanske and Chris VanDusen, owners of Empire Hemp Company, opened up their store front on 4/20 at 4:20p.m.
“I have been an advocate for hemp for the last 20 years and when it became legal, and we were able to grow it, we got a permit to grow and process it and we decided to open up the shop,” says VanDusen.
“We have a processing and manufacturing facility on Swan street and we work with local growers in Genesee, Orleans, Wyoming and Erie Counties. We process and manufacture our own product, so every product in this store, we handmake in our facility,” says Wolanske.
According to VanDusen, Empire Hemp is the first processor in Genesee County
Empire Hemp Company sells CBD oils that are taken orally, topical salves and balms, lotions sugar scrubs, soak and the “flower”. The “flower” they sell, will only have below .3% THC to comply with regulations.
Going forward, Wolanske says that Empire Hemp will soon provide tours of their processing facility on Swan street, so people can see how they process things and how their products are made.
Members of the media, City Council President Eugene Jankowski, and Genesee County Chamber of Commerce President Erik Fix were on hand at the Grand Opening event Thursday and were provided with a tour of the processing facility.
“We want to reach out to the community, especially the seniors who want to try CBD and don’t want to use opioids or certain meds, the educational piece for them and then one on one education as well. Anyone that comes in, we educate them,” says Wolanske.
VanDusen said, “We want to help the communities well being and just having them get their pain relieved and have a positive impact on their lives”.
You can check them out at 204 East Main street in Batavia or on Facebook. https://m.facebook.com/empirehempco/
