The Cannabist Co. Holdings Inc. announced this month that it will shut down two cannabis cultivation and manufacturing facilities in South Jersey, eliminating 86 jobs in the sector on Oct. 11. The shutdowns come after the company gained Chapter 15 bankruptcy recognition in the U.S. earlier this year.
The company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) with the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development on July 14, notifying the agency of its facility closures in Vineland: at 51 West Park Ave. and at 1560 N. West Blvd.
One of the New Jersey cultivation and manufacturing facilities is leased, while a Cannabist Co. non-cannabis operating subsidiary, Columbia Care NJ Realty LLC, owns the other facility, with about $16 million still due under a mortgage loan agreement as of March 2026, according to court documents.
Some of the impacted workers may receive special legal protections: The Cannabist Co. is party to a collective bargaining agreement with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) Local 152, covering full-time and regular part-time cultivation technicians employed in Vineland.
The Cannabist Co. also holds state licenses for dispensaries in Vineland, Deptford and Mays Landing, which it plans to sell to Vireo Growth as part of a $35 million deal that includes up to 25 retail facilities across five states (also including Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts and West Virginia).
In New Jersey, the Cannabist Co.’s operations generated roughly $43.5 million in revenue in 2025, representing nearly 16% of the multistate operator’s total revenue in that year, according to bankruptcy-related documents the company filed in March with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Colorado (28%), Ohio (18%) and Maryland (12%) were its other top revenue-producing markets in 2025.
“As a result of regulatory, industry and financial challenges, the [company] is currently facing a severe liquidity crisis and is unable to meet its financial obligations as they become due,” according to the filing.
This crisis included an accumulated deficit of approximately $1.3 billion as of Sept. 30, 2025. As of December 2025, the company’s assets were estimated at roughly $515 million, and its liabilities were roughly $700 million, according to the filing.
“Regulation of cannabis in the United States has created structural challenges for industry participants, particularly in accessing capital markets and banking services and suffering from materially adverse tax consequences compared to other industries as [a] result of Section 280E taxes,” the Cannabist Co. said of its financial difficulties. “The industry has also faced significant headwinds with intense competition from regulated and illicit industry participants, and supply chain challenges.”
The filing came after the company closed a deal to sell its ownership interests in Virginia ($130 million), entered an equity agreement for its Ohio operations ($47 million), and entered an agreement to sell its Delaware assets ($16.5 million). It also came after the company began winding down its New York and Pennsylvania operations to “preserve liquidity.”
At the time of its Ontario filing, the Cannabist Co. employed nearly 1,300 people, including its New Jersey force of 101 cultivation/manufacturing and 43 retail workers.
The WARN notice in New Jersey coincides with a similar notice that the Cannabist Co. (formerly known as Columbia Care) filed this month in Colorado, where it plans to shut down its Denver cultivation and manufacturing facility and lay off 50 workers in early September.
After the Cannabist Co. and its Canadian subsidiary commenced insolvency proceedings in March 2026 under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) in Ontario, Canada, it gained Chapter 15 bankruptcy recognition in May in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware – paving new territory for financially distressed U.S. cannabis operators who traditionally have had limited options under the plant’s Schedule I control status.
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The Cannabist Co. successfully obtained Chapter 15 recognition in the U.S., in large part, because of adjacent businesses and restructuring in Canada.
In May, a U.S. bankruptcy judge in Delaware determined that the Cannabist Co. is “the duly appointed foreign representative of the debtors within the meaning of … the Bankruptcy Code, and is authorized to act on behalf of the debtors in the Chapter 15 cases.”
The way Blank Rome LLP put it, “the holding company structure matters” in Chapter 15 recognition for cannabis companies.
“Recognition was sought for, and granted to, Canadian topco entities that do not themselves hold cannabis licenses, grow cannabis or sell cannabis,” according to the law firm. “The cannabis operating subsidiaries remained outside the bankruptcy proceedings in both jurisdictions. This approach avoids the scenario that has troubled domestic bankruptcy courts – a trustee or court directly administering illegal assets and substantially weakens any public policy objection.”
