GrowGeneration Corp.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Grow Generation Corp. 2021 second quarter conference call. During today's presentation, all parties will be in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, the conference will be open for analyst questions. If you have a question, press the star followed by one on your touchtone phone. If you'd like to withdraw your question, please press star followed by two. If you're using a speaker equipment, please lift the handset before making your selections. This conference is being recorded today, August 12th, 2021, and the earnings press relief accompanying this conference call was issued this morning. On our call today is Darren Lampert, our CEO and co-founder, Michael Salaman, president and co-founder, Jeff Lasher, our CFO, and Tony Sullivan, our COO. and Grow Generation's Head of Investor Relations, John Evans. I would now like to turn the call over to John Evans.

Good morning. I would like to welcome everyone to the Grow Generation second quarter 2021 earnings conference call. After management remarks, there will be a Q&A session. As always, we expect to make forward-looking statements this morning, but we want to caution you that our actual results could differ materially from what we say here. Such statements can be identified by the terms such as believe, expect, intend, and may. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements, and we do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements we make today. For more information about factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements, please refer to the press release we issued today as well as risks and uncertainties included in the section under the caption risk factors and management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operation in our annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and any subsequent Form 10-Qs and Form 8-Ks filed with the SEC. Following prepared remarks today, we will open the call for questions. I'd also like to remind everyone that today's call is being recorded and an archived version of our call will be available on our website later today. I will now turn the call over to our president and co-founder, Michael Salaman.

Thank you, John, and good morning. Our second quarter record results exemplify our continued focus on the execution of our business plan, and we are very proud of the results our team achieved. For the year, we have closed 12 transactions and have added a total of 20 new locations to our portfolio of garden centers that now totals 58. Our company continues to attract the best of breed and largest chains of hydroponic operators as evident with our recent signing of HGS Hydro, the country's third largest chain of hydroponic stores with seven locations across the state of Michigan. In the quarter, we hired Paul Ritenis, as Chief Merchant Officer, and Dennis Sheldon, Senior VP of Global Supply Chain and Systems, who along with Jeff Lasher, our Chief Financial Officer, and Tony Sullivan, our Chief Operating Officer, had tremendous experience at the C-suite level to lead our team and execute our plan. Our strategy set forth several quarters ago have begun to pay dividends with better margins achieved from a wider product mix of private label and proprietary products. As we navigate through construction delays, our new store openings planned for Q3 will be Q4 events. In 2021, four states passed legalization, New Mexico, Virginia, Connecticut, and New York. Additionally, New York is expected to have licensing starting in 2022. Today, we operate 12 of the 18 states that have adult use laws. with a goal to expand our operations to 14 states by the end of the year. I will now turn the call over to Darren who will present our second quarter 2021 results. Darren.