It’s True: You Can Buy CBD Products From 7-Eleven

A press release issued this week claimed that Denver-based cannabis company Phoenix Tears had struck a revolutionary deal with 7-Eleven to distribute hemp-based cannabidiol (CBD) products through its 4,000 convenience stores later this year. But the store claims the news was completely false. A representative for the company told the Huffington Post, which was first to publish the story, that no such arrangement has been made. But according to representatives of Phoenix Tears, the deal is “absolutely real.”

The 7-Eleven convenience store chain denies ever entering into a distribution contract to sell Phoenix Tears CBD products in various locations across the United States.

“We have made no agreement or partnership with this company and do not know why they said that,” Stephanie Shaw, director of communications at 7-Eleven said in a statement.

When the Huffington Post reached out to Phoenix Tears to learn more about the questionable release, the company was confused. Suzanne Mattaboni, an agent for Parallel Communications, the firm that issued the press release on Phoenix Tears’ behalf, told the Post that some of the details of the 7-Eleven deal may have been “misstated.”

She told the news source that they were going “to get to the bottom of this.”

Cannabis Now did get to the bottom of it. Glen Goldberg, a spokesperson with Parallel, told us this morning that the confusion over the CBD deal is due to the misrepresentation of a minor detail — which two companies are actually on the contract.

“There is absolutely a distribution deal for 7-Eleven stores,” he said. “The story on the Huffington Post was completely wrong. The press release very clearly states that the distribution deal is between MarketHub, which is a distributor for 7-Eleven franchisees. There is no contractual arrangement or partnership with 7-Eleven corporate. The deal is with Market Hub, which has already delivered Phoenix Tears products in a number of 7-Eleven stores around the country. They work directly with the franchisees.”

Come to find out, the Phoenix Tears press release did, in fact, make this all-important piece of information perfectly clear.

“The agreement to place Phoenix Tears products in 7-Eleven stores was made with MarketHub Retail Services, a distributor that works with 7-Eleven franchisees,” the release states.

It was the word “partnership” in the Huffington Post story that Goldberg says ruffled the feathers of 7-Eleven executives. This is because there is no partnership between Phoenix Tears and 7-Eleven. The two companies do not have any sort of working relationship.

But MarketHub is definitely putting Phoenix Tears CBD products on 7-Eleven shelves.

“It’s already happening,” Goldberg said.

So, in spite of all the confusion, the consumer will be able to purchase CBD products from 7-Eleven stores soon.

“We are excited that 7-Eleven will bring the Phoenix Tears product line to millions of Americans who can benefit from these all-natural, safe, and market-proven health alternative products,” Janet Rosendahl-Sweeney, founder of Phoenix Tears, said in a statement. “In addition, this agreement confirms our belief that CBD’s status as a mainstream wellness option has arrived. We’re eager to usher in a new era of effective, holistic, hemp-based supplements that are now as easy to buy as stopping by the local convenience store.”

Interestingly, major retailers like Walmart and Amazon are also marketing hemp-based CBD products. But neither company physically stocks these items, nor do they ship them directly to the customer. Both retailers serve only as a middleman, selling CBD through their online stores — nothing more.

This is what makes the MarketHub/7-Eleven deal so special, Goldberg explained. “Online has always been the primary channel for CBD. This relationship with Market Hub is the first of several brick and mortar distribution outlets we will be working with,” he said.

TELL US, have you ever tried CBD?