GRAFTON – Much like growing marijuana, Colonel Boothe knows that cultivating a loyal clientele takes time, dedication, and trust.

But how does a dispensary owner do that when confronted with bureaucratic red tape and a lack of visibility in the community?

The free tacos he offers every week are a good start.

It took three years, but now Simplicity, a local and minority-owned cannabis dispensary situated between artisanal cheese and wine shop Pecorino and pizza restaurant Neko’s of New York, has opened its doors. To get people to the plaza, Boothe sponsors 100 free tacos every Tuesday, provided by Taqueria Acapulcos, while the dispensary finds its footing.

“We want to make a connection with you. And I think the best way to make a connection with people is by sitting down and eating with them,” he said.

But getting to this point hasn’t been easy. Boothe purchased the marijuana retail license and property at 135 Westboro Road in North Grafton in early 2022 when it was still under the ownership of Worcester-based dispensary Resinate, which sold the space after identifying a better cannabusiness opportunity elsewhere. The storefront then sat stagnant for nine months while Boothe went back and forth with the Cannabis Control Commission – the state regulator – to get Resinate’s license transferred in his name. The long wait ultimately halted renovations and fundraising efforts.

Add two years of interior and exterior renovations, a year of licensing tasks, and consistent coordination with state and town officials, and Boothe has opened the first of what he hopes will be a few dispensaries in Massachusetts. A grand opening will take place in the coming weeks.

“Dealing with the Cannabis Control Commission is challenging, but they’re a lot more supportive now than they were three years ago,” he said. “That timeline, it hurt us a lot. Not just because it took us this long, but because of the fact that our customer base is already established at another dispensary and we have to figure out a way to pull them back.”

“We want to make a connection with you. And I think the best way to make a connection with people is by sitting down and eating with them.”

Simplicity offers stoner classics like pre-rolled joints, disposable vaporizers and cartridges, edibles, and, of course, marijuana flower. But the dispensary will also have a manufacturing facility that will allow the brand to craft its own gummies, chocolate bars, cannabis-infused brownies, cookies, and, eventually, joints, an aspect of the business that Boothe said sets Simplicity apart from other dispensaries in the area.

“Having the manufacturing component allows you to be flexible,” he said. “It allows you to listen to your customer base and make products that meet their needs.”

Simplicity isn’t Boothe’s first foray into the marijuana industry. In 2019, he co-founded an outdoor cannabis cultivation company in Middleborough called Holistic Health Group that took two years to get off the ground, largely due to issues with finding a community open to the idea.

Boothe believes acceptance of marijuana businesses across the state has gotten better, and described the industry as “a lot more challenging” to navigate when he first started compared to experiencing the sales side of it now.

“The education component is pretty important because that’s the reason why I use the product,” he said. “The community that we’ve met so far [has] been amazing. The majority of them have been from Westborough and North Grafton, but we’ve met some amazing people, and they’re happy that we’re open, and I feel like we’ve already established ourselves as their dispensary.”

It’s important to Boothe that customers who come through Simplicity’s doors feel comfortable with the space and the staff. He knows how intimidating walking into a dispensary for the first time can be, which is why he prioritizes teaching his staff how to engage with first-time and seasoned customers alike to find products that fit exactly what they’re looking for.

“We do things to help them feel more relaxed. A relaxed customer will become a loyal customer because they trust in us, and they trust in us to make the right recommendations for them,” he said.

Source: https://www.communityadvocate.com/business/after-much-delay-new-grafton-weed-joint-gets-rolling/article_b7529dc3-8a25-4eda-97ee-a580faa0b1e7.html