Sunnyside marijuana dispensary opens as Naperville's 3rd recreational facility

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (WLS) -- West suburban Naperville's third marijuana dispensary opens Wednesday morning.

Cresco Labs will open its Sunnyside dispensary at 10 a.m. It is located near the intersection of 75th Street and Route 59.

Sunnyside Naperville will employ nearly 40 people in the nearly 8,400-square-foot dispensary, a Cresco press release said. Adult-use customers can browse live inventory, place online orders through Sunnyside.shop and pick up orders in-store.

Just last week, Zen Leaf joined Rise, the city's first dispensary, which opened in October.

There's been a steady stream of people in and out all day at RISE Naperville, the city's first adult-use marijuana shop.

All three openings took place just months after Naperville lifted its initial ban on cannabis stores.

Naperville banned recreational marijuana sales before it became legal on Jan. 1. The city said it would put the idea up as a ballot initiative to gauge whether residents wanted it or not. A March referendum showed 53% of Naperville residents supported recreational marijuana sales.

"It didn't seem like there was enough support for either group to have a majority," Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico said at the time. "Ultimately we agreed, hey look, let's just put this to the voters."

Chirico said there was a stigma surrounding adult-use dispensaries.

An adult-use marijuana dispensary opened in Naperville, and Mayor Chirico was in attendance for the launch. The city council voted to allow up to three dispensaries to operate in t

RELATED: Illinois Weed Legalization Guide

"But at the end of the day, these businesses add a great deal to our community," he said.

Chirico did say that stigma is changing.

In Illinois, Cresco Labs has 10 operating stores in the River North and Lakeview neighborhoods of Chicago; Schaumburg; villages of Elmwood Park and Buffalo Grove in Cook County; and more.

Recreational marijuana became legal in Illinois as of Jan. 1, 2020.

Illinois is one of the most robust cannabis markets in the country where state retail sales are on an annual run rate of more than a billion dollars, Cresco officials said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.