Those stores were never "weed" stores, they were "smoking accessory" stores. You could buy bongs, pipes, incense, herbal tobacco (i.e. legal), and every manner of thing that wasn't actually pot. Unless you had an in with the staff, then as often as not they would quietly sell you pot.

But they always maintained the pretense of not selling drugs, which a growing chain of mushroom stores did not do.

It even mentions that in here.