Riverside's second licensed cannabis dispensary is now open at 1601 University Ave., having opened Monday, July 13. Its location was shaped as much by the city as by the company's desire to serve new parts of the Riverside community while staying compliant with the city's plan for cannabis retail zoning: Riverside caps dispensaries at one per council ward, a rule meant to keep stores from clustering in any one neighborhood. Embarc opened Riverside's first store on Magnolia Avenue in March, and its second will serve a different ward on University Avenue.
The store runs daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. It moved into a space that most recently held a health-food restaurant; a former manager there connected the company to the property owner. A Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting and a grand-opening party follow later in the month.
One store to a ward
The city spent years working through moratoriums, competing proposals and council debate before allowing retail sales at all, and the one-per-ward cap — adopted by the City Council in July 2025 — was part of a deliberately limited rollout. Embarc came through that process as the operator of Riverside's first dispensary, which opened on Magnolia Avenue in March.
"We're grateful to have the opportunity to operate in locations that are convenient for folks from all over the city," Embarc said of the ward system.
The company says the second opening is a continuation rather than a fresh start. It says it committed to Riverside early, and that Magnolia's opening confirmed what it had heard — a community that wanted, in its words, operators who "continue to show up past the ribbon cutting."
The people on the floor
The day-to-day at University Avenue runs through general manager Sarah Bauer, whom the company describes as community-oriented down to her off-hours: a mountain hiker who reportedly never hits a trail without a trash grabber. Bauer has spent the run-up getting to know the corridor's businesses and residents and planning the store's community work.
That door-knocking is a repeat of a play Embarc ran before Magnolia, when it hit the businesses and residents of a neighborhood still weighing cannabis retail. Along University Avenue, the company says, the reception has been warm — especially from neighbor Tacos Che Taqueria, which will host Embarc's grand-opening party.
A room built like a market
Walk in, and Embarc wants the space to read less like a dispensary than a neighborhood market. Customers grab a basket and browse at their own pace; products and prices sit out on the shelves to be compared without a counter between shopper and stock. The company calls it a "bodega-style" experience, and pitches it as low-pressure — staff it calls "guides" are nearby for questions, but the design assumes you might just want to look. Embarc says daily deals and 5% back on every purchase are part of the model.
University Avenue will be Embarc's smallest Riverside store, and the company says its size suits the personal, guide-driven style. It opened with a team of 10 to 15 guides, hired, as at every location, from the local community.
Where the giveback goes
Embarc donates 1% of sales back to each store's community, and in Riverside that fund has been accruing since Magnolia's first sale in March. It has not yet paid out. Rather than cut fast checks "for photo ops," the company says, it routes the money through a community advisory board — local voices deciding where the dollars land. Embarc says its Community Advisory Board is in active conversations with Riverside organizations now, including groups working on family homelessness and youth prevention, and expects its first donations in August. Every sale adds to it, and, Embarc says, "it stays in Riverside."
The community emphasis traces back to the company's origins. Embarc was founded by a husband and wife at their dining-room table, opening its first handful of stores into the teeth of the pandemic; members of the team had worked on Proposition 64, the 2016 measure that legalized adult-use cannabis in California. The company casts each new opening as part of that same arc — "policy development come to life," as it puts it, and the slower civic work of a community moving past stigma.
Who it's for
Ask Embarc who the University Avenue store is really for, on a commuter corridor near UC Riverside, and it describes the audience broadly. One of the things the listening tour taught the company, it says, is that a lot of people carry a mental picture of the cannabis customer that the data doesn't bear out. "Cannabis consumers are just like you and me," Embarc says — friends, neighbors, colleagues and parents stopping in between the grocery run, the gas station and summer-camp drop-off.
Opening week is deliberately quiet — Embarc says it will spend the first stretch dialing in its flow before the formal celebrations, which arrive later in the month: a Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting with Cheba Hut on hand, followed by a grand-opening party hosted by neighbor Tacos Che Taqueria, where the first 200 guests get a doorbuster bag. First-time customers can take 25% off their first pickup order with the code RAINCROSS25, a standing offer.
More information: Embarc Riverside University is at 1601 University Ave., Riverside, and is open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting is Friday, July 24 at 11:30 a.m.; the grand-opening party, hosted by Tacos Che Taqueria, is Saturday, July 25 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Details, hours and current deals are at goembarc.com. Reach the store at (951) 465-3420 or riverside@goembarc.com, and follow @embarcriversideuniversity on Instagram.
