Jack Herer’s Store, The Third Eye Shoppe, Closes After 30 Years

Most of us are familiar with Jack “The Hemperor” Herer, the legendary author of the groundbreaking 1985 novel The Emperor Wears No Clothes and of his unwavering cannabis activism. Jack Herer’s shop, The Third Eye Shoppe, will permanently close doors on March 31. The shop was a sanctuary for the open sale of cannabis water pipes and all of the added accessories that a cannabis enthusiast might pine after.

Portland locals remember the one-of-a-kind commercials that promoted the shop and the hallmark hippie decor. “I tell them it’s a hippy Grateful Dead department store,” Mark Herer, son of Jack Herer, told KATU News. “That’s how my dad started it back in 1987.” Since his father passed away in 2010, Mark has run the shop.

Nowadays, many millennials prefer dab rigs and vape pens over water pipes and chillums. Others simply buy their equipment straight from the dispensary. “Brand new customers are harder to come by these days,” added Herer. Herer was recently offered $1 million for the property, and it was an offer that he couldn’t refuse. The glass pipe industry isn’t what it used to be. Herer, however, plans on hosting some kind of block party to celebrate the 30 years that the shop was in business. According to Herer, the business recorded a loss of half a million dollars during the 2015 fiscal year.

Ironically, the legalization of recreational cannabis in Oregon and other states didn’t help Herer’s business. His ancillary business falls outside of the state’s recreational industry. Jack Herer opened up his first head shop  in 1973. Jack Herer also opened up a head shop in Van Nuys called High Country, eventually attracted the attention of police who confiscated over 6,000 cannabis-related items. Jack Herer ran for presidency in 1988 and in 1992 as the Grassroots Party candidate. Jack Herer combed the archives of the Library of Congress in order to construct his masterpiece, The Emperor Wears No Clothes. The novel is currently in its twelfth edition.