Enjoy this interview series recorded live on the showroom floor of MJBizCon 2025 in Las Vegas. We partnered with Respect My Region to highlight operators building real businesses in cannabis—retail, brands, and manufacturing. Catch the highlights in this blog and watch the full series on Respect My Region’s YouTube.
Who’s in this episode
Respect My Region sits down with Ty Padilla, CEO of Puyallup Tribal Cannabis Enterprises (Commencement Bay Cannabis) based in the Tacoma, Washington area. The conversation covers tribal cannabis growth, product strategy across extracts, and the basics of marketing that still separate winners from everyone else.
From one to four stores in Tacoma
Ty shares a clear milestone: Commencement Bay Cannabis now operates four dispensaries in the Tacoma area.
He also calls out several store locations, including one near the Emerald Queen Casino, plus additional shops around the Tacoma region. The key point is simple—while many people assume Washington’s market is flat, their retail footprint is still expanding.
The business started as a testing lab
A lot of operators begin with retail or manufacturing. Commencement Bay started somewhere more technical.
Ty explains the tribe was one of the first to compact with Washington State, and their first cannabis business was a testing lab:
- Medicine Creek Analytics (started in 2016)
- Retail followed in 2017
- Processing came later, sourcing flower, extracting, and building branded oil products
That timeline matters because it signals a quality-first foundation: testing to retail, then into making the oil.
Brand #1: Flawless—“100% live resin” and true-to-plant
The first product shown is Flawless, positioned as a flagship line.
What stands out:
- 100% live resin positioning
- No distillate “boost” added
- “As true to the plant as possible” as the brand promise
- Metal case with a design wrap
- Color coding that helps budtenders guide customers by category (hybrid/indica/sativa)
Ty also mentions their processing team focuses heavily on strain diversity. In the past year, they launched 50+ cultivars in live resin, using small-batch runs to keep product fresh and varied. If you’re a consumer chasing flavor, that strategy makes sense. If you’re a buyer, it signals disciplined SKU management at scale.
Brand #2: Pressed—distillate built for flavor-first customers
On the other side of the table is Pressed, described as:
- Fruity, flavorful distillate
- Botanical terpenes
- Available in all-in-one devices and cartridges
- Designed for customers who want big flavor and big clouds
Ty points out the lineup is deep—20+ strains/flavors, including seasonal drops. He also mentions CBD options (examples included Hawaiian Punch CBD and Piña Colada CBD), which expands the buyer audience beyond high-THC shoppers.
Their menu strategy: give every customer a lane
Ty lists a wide product range beyond live resin and distillate:
- All-in-ones
- Vape cartridges
- Dabs
- Rosin
- THCA products
- Infused pre-rolls and standard pre-rolls
That’s not “we make everything” for the sake of it. It’s a retail reality: different customers want different outcomes, and different price tiers.
Ty’s path into cannabis: military, tech, then tribal operations
Ty’s background is unusually broad:
- Army veteran
- Business school
- Experience in tech (including Facebook)
- Entered cannabis in 2017 through Privateer Holdings / Tilray in Seattle
- Joined the tribe’s cannabis operation around 2022
He also shares a personal reason for caring about the industry’s impact. He frames cannabis as something that can make life better for people, and he takes that seriously in how he shows up to the work.
The practical marketing takeaway: SEO is not optional
The interview closes with a surprisingly concrete message for operators: SEO is basic blocking and tackling.
Ty’s view:
- You have to show up where people search
- If you’re not present online, you don’t win
- Weed may “sell itself,” but outperforming others comes from doing the basics better
- Strong SEO, a solid website, and consistent social presence compound over time
- Great customer experience matters both in-store and online
This is the kind of advice that sounds obvious—until you look at how many retailers still don’t do it.
Where to find Commencement Bay Cannabis
Ty directs viewers to their retail site and tells shoppers to search them in Tacoma.
- commencementbaycannabis.com (as stated in the interview)
- Tacoma area locations
Sponsorship note
This interview is part of the Respect My Region MJBizCon 2025 coverage. Canna Brand Solutions supported the broader series as a sponsor.
