OLYMPIA, Wash. – After almost two years of anticipation — excitement for some, dread for others — Washington State issued its first licenses yesterday for the legal sale of recreational marijuana, with sales beginning today.

The rollout has been anything but business as usual thus far, from the sometimes unlikely businesspeople who are opening shops, to the seemingly illogical locations for the first shops.

For instance, Seattle — the state’s largest city — will have only one shop, compared to the much smaller Washington cities of Vancouver and Tacoma, which could have three or four, despite being located in counties that have tried to block marijuana initiatives.

Many of the shops opening today may also have limited supply for their eager customers, as the marijuana growers have only had their licenses since March, not enough time to produce large quantities. Some retailers expect to ration their stock at first, but not surprisingly, the limited quantities may result in higher prices.

Although Washington and Colorado both approved marijuana legalization in 2012, unlike Colorado, which based the new system off the state’s existing medical marijuana program, Washington started their process from scratch. This re-working has delayed implementation of legal marijuana sales until now (Colorado started in January) and left some skeptical in many areas of the state.