Veteran-owned CBD shop opens in West Manhattan, aims to provide ‘top shelf’ products to Flint Hills area

Top Shelf CBD owners, Ray Hanning and Jeremy Meek, cut the ribbon at their store’s ribbon cutting event May 1, 2023.

On May 1, 2023, a new CBD shop, Top Shelf CBD, opened its doors in the Candlewood Shopping Center in Manhattan, KS. This veteran-owned shop offers a variety of CBD products including tinctures, gummies, topicals, and pet treats. The veteran owners are passionate about the benefits of CBD, having used it themselves as a natural alternative to prescription medication for pain management. After years of research on healthy CBD treatments, the owners recognized the opportunity presented by the intersection of the growing varieties of CBD options with a more supportive political and economic environment for CBD. In this interview with Jeremy Meek, one of the three owners of Top Shelf CBD, get to know their business backstory and what inspired them to open Top Shelf now.

What is the name of your business and your location?

We are Top Shelf CBD located at 3252 Kimball Avenue in the Candlewood Shopping Center. Top Shelf is owned by Jeremy L. Meek, Ray Hanning and Aaron Estabrook.

Owner Jeremy Meek shows off some of the Top Shelf CBD products in their shop.

Tell us a little about your back story and how you both got interested in opening a CBD shop.

My CBD journey started when I wrote my first research paper on CBD and it’s potential medicinal/therapeutic properties. This was in the summer of 1998 at Kansas State University. I was originally going to write my paper on the Cannabis Sativa and the medicinal value it has, and that’s how I stumbled across CBD. At that time, there wasn’t a lot of research yet on CBD, but there was definitely enough to write a paper.

Fast forward to December of 2001, I took a trip to Germany to see my mother and her husband who was stationed at Heidelberg. On this trip I coordinated with one of my childhood friends who also flew to Germany to see his Mom. We linked up and took off for about a week and went to Holland. During road trip my friend and I discussed about my paper I wrote on CBD and we had conversations about the legality of the marijuana plant. In Holland it has been decriminalized for decades and became part of its culture. My goal on this trip was to visit coffee shops and get my hands on menus, reading material about the history of marijuana and how it integrated into their society.

I brought all this knowledge back with me and in my free time researched more and more about this plant and it’s potential of helping people improve their lives.

So, long story short. I always dreamed of opening my own store or coffee shop, something in that realm of ideas. That thought was merely just a pipe dream, because of the laws in America and how marijuana was viewed and the propaganda that surrounded it.

Fast forward to 2009 and we witnessed Colorado legalize it for recreational use. That was the beginning of the views and peoples reception started to change. Since the 1990s, there has now been copious amounts of research done that is published in scientific journals around the world. Its studies have now proven that the medical benefits are amazing and are saving and changing peoples lives in positive manner. Then in 2018 when the Farm Bill was re-written from 2014, the government decided to make hemp manufacturing and CBD federally legal in all states. We are now in the times of the “Green Rush”. This piece of legislation has created thousands of jobs in all field from industrial hemp, agriculture, processing all the way in my favor and put pieces to this puzzle I’ve been working on and following for decades in line for me. That when I reached out to a couple of my good friends and said it’s now or never!! Are you guys on board and the question was yes!! So, we jumped!!

What is unique about you and your business?

Top Shelf CBD at their newly-opened, Candlewood Shopping Center location

Top Shelf CBD is unique for several reasons. First, we are locally owned and operated, and we are veteran owned!! Top Shelf is also unique because we are not a franchise like our current competitors in Manhattan. When in a franchise situation you can only carry brands under that franchise and then maybe a few options outside of that, basically they are limited to a point. We have the freedom to order from any company we want to that is farm bill compliant. That is why we have such a huge selection of products and have pricing that is better at the same time. A couple other examples of why Top Shelf is unique is that we are located on Manhattan’s west side we there are no other CBD and wellness stores that exist. Manhattan’s Westside has been growing at a continuous pace for the last 20 years and will keep growing. Lastly, here at Top Shelf we are big on educating our customers on CBD products. We want them to understand the laws and understand what CBD really is and the vast medicinal and therapeutic values it brings to the table.  We carry everything from CBD for pets, beauty line for women, daily wellness, customers that need pain relief, muscle support and recovery, sleeping issues and so much more!! We have already partnered with a local hemp farmer who makes a line of fantastic products and it is the first seed to shelf relationship and it’s all grown and made in Kansas!!

What are some of your first year goals and future opportunities you are aiming for as you grow your business?

Our goals within our first year is to grow our customer base. We have already seen customers from the surrounding communities like Wamego, Junction City, Abilene and Clay Center. As we grow and generate more income, we are interested in introducing a delivery option for our customers. Long term goals are to keep Top Shelf sustained and if everything goes as planned in the future we would like to expand and possibly open up a second location.