Lume Cannabis Co. is a vertically integrated Michigan operator that grows its own flower in Evart and sells it through 40 dispensaries across the state, per Forbes in July 2026. Dave Morrow co-founded it in 2019 with brothers Robert and Donald Barnes. The company is based in Troy.
Its playbook is simple and loud: grow at scale, own the shelf and put stores in towns other operators skip. Forbes put Lume's 2025 revenue at $190 million.
A lacrosse founder and Belle Tire money
Morrow came from sporting goods. He played lacrosse at Princeton, earned All-American honors three times and helped win the 1992 NCAA championship. That same year he started Warrior Sports from his dorm room, then sold it to New Balance in 2004.
His partners brought a different kind of Michigan credibility. Forbes calls Robert and Donald Barnes Belle Tire moguls, and the three co-founded Lume together in 2019, the year Michigan opened adult-use sales.
Doug Hellyar, Morrow's former chief operating officer at Warrior, runs Lume as president. Cannabis Business Times identified Kevin Kuethe as chief cultivation officer in February 2024.
225,000 square feet in Evart
Everything starts in Evart. Lume built a 225,000-square-foot cultivation facility there for about $45 million, according to Forbes. It runs 20 grow rooms and produces roughly 500 pounds a week, or about 30 tons a year.
Cannabis Business Times reported in February 2024 that Lume grew from $2 million to nearly $200 million in revenue over four years. The magazine credited heavy investment in technology and automation, which cut production costs in half.
That same month, the Lansing State Journal reported that Lume would take over a 56,000-square-foot growing and processing facility at 10070 Harvest Park in Windsor Township, near Lansing. The company signed a long-term lease with owner Innovative Industrial Properties and planned the site for its Gold Label fresh-frozen live rosin.
Lume Cultivated, Lume Curated and Gold Label
The house shelf runs in three tiers. Lume Cultivated is flower grown in-house. Lume Curated is hand-picked flower from local growers. Gold Label is the solventless program, built on fresh-frozen live rosin.
House cultivars on the Lume site include Jenny Kush, GMO Cookies, Chem de la Chem and Dulce. Pre-rolls, cartridges, edibles and CBD products fill out the menu, and the stores offer online ordering with curbside pickup.
Lume doesn't stock only its own product. The homepage names partner brands including Society C, Michigrown, Doghouse Farms, Classic Roots, Freedom Green, Mitten Extracts, Cali-Blaze and Loco, along with national names such as Jeeter, Wyld and Swisher Blunts.
Forty stores from Monroe to the Upper Peninsula
Lume's footprint reads like a road map of small-town Michigan. The locations page lists 40 stores, with two each in Grand Rapids and Traverse City.
- Upper Peninsula: Escanaba, Houghton, Iron Mountain, Manistique, Menominee, Negaunee and Sault Ste. Marie.
- Northern Lower Peninsula: Bear Creek, Cadillac, Evart, Gaylord, Honor, Mackinaw City, Petoskey and Traverse City.
- West Michigan: Big Rapids, Cedar Springs, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lowell, New Buffalo and Portage.
- Mid-Michigan: Birch Run, Mount Pleasant, Owosso and Saginaw.
- Southern Michigan: Adrian, Ann Arbor, Coldwater, Jackson, Monroe, Morenci and Petersburg.
- Metro Detroit: Berkley, Holly, Oxford, Southfield and Walled Lake.
The count has climbed steadily. The Saline Post reported the 33rd store in April 2022, when Lume had just passed 1,000 employees. The Lansing State Journal counted 38 stores in February 2024. Forbes counted 40 in July 2026, with 1,400 employees.
A retail license on Sault Tribe land
On July 24, 2020, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and Lume announced an adult-use retail license on tribal lands. The tribe framed the deal as economic diversification that would fund expanded services for its members.
The announcement called Lume Michigan's largest vertically integrated cannabis operator. Hellyar, then president and COO, said the company was excited to partner with the tribe. Lume's Sault Ste. Marie store sits on the 2026 locations list.
Michigan's Cannabis Regulatory Agency also lists Lume Cannabis Co. as a Social Equity All-Star Gold qualifier. That tier covers licensees that have published social equity, corporate spend and community reinvestment plans and attest that the plans are current.
Who runs Lume in 2026
Lume is still run by the team that started it. Forbes's July 2026 profile features Morrow as co-founder and Hellyar as president, and the corporate office sits at 769 Chicago Road in Troy.
The model hasn't changed since 2019: Lume grows the flower, makes the rosin and sells both through its own 40 Michigan stores. Shoppers earn points through the Lume Cannabis Club, which pays 1 point per dollar and scales up to 5X with tier status.
For adults 21 and over.