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Date: 10/7/2021
HOLYOKE - A new cannabis dispensary has opened their doors in Holyoke.
Chris Vianello, who owns Dazed Cannabis with Rich Rainone, Keshawn Warner and Pete Kasabian, said he first entered the cannabis industry a couple years ago. He said, "We started in Uxbridge, MA," explaining they previously owned a cannabis shop there, but "sold that because the opportunity presented itself."
"It was not something we were looking to do," he said.
Soon, after the group began "exploring different opportunities," they were drawn to the city of Holyoke.
"Holyoke did a good job marketing as a cannabis-friendly city, they turned out to be that. It's not necessarily an easy process, but they made a difficult process palatable," he said. "They're open to working with people, they wanted to have cannabis in town."
Vianello said the group began the process of opening the dispensary in January of 2019. The process began with site selection, which he said was a difficult process to find the right location as well as following all requirements set forth. "Making sure you're in the right zone, not within 500 feet of a business you're not supposed to be or schools," he said.
From there, he explained they moved on to "normal business stuff" such as signing a lease and making sure the space fit their needs. After that, he said they needed to go to the city to apply for a permit. Once the permit was granted, he said they were required to "go to the state" and then "come back to the city."
"Plus we had COVID[-19] in the middle of that," he said, explaining the pandemic pushed back the timeline by several months.
"We were originally supposed to be in front of the city in March of 2020, that didn't happen," he said. "We finally got in front of the city for a special use permit for August or September."
When choosing their location, Vianello said they were "kind of tied to one area" as they had to make sure to follow the zoning requirements set forth. However, he said their Jackson Street location was ideal for several other reasons. "We like the location because we're right off the highway, we have on and off-street parking. The physical location is pretty good, it's just under 500 square feet, which is just as much space as you can get," he said. "The landlord is a nice guy, friendly, easy to deal with. It just made sense for us."
He said a lot "still remains to be seen" as they had only recently opened their doors, but their vision was for a more "relaxed" atmosphere. "What we're trying to do is we're trying to open a store that has a relaxed, fun, laid back atmosphere. Of the dispensaries that we've been to in different places, sometimes because it's a heavily monitored and compliance heavy industry it seems to be [that] you can go into some stores, particularly out East, that focus on the security aspect and compliance," he said. "It feels more like going through TSA than a retail shopping experience. Compliance is important, you have to keep everyone safe, but just because you're staying compliant doesn't mean you have to erode the retail experience."
Vianello said they were working with many cultivators and trying to "see who's a good first for us and who we're a good fit for." While he said they were "pulling from the same cultivators from the state," he was sure "there are some products we have that other stores don't have."
Dazed Cannabis is located at 56 Jackson St. in Holyoke and is open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Sunday.