Business ready to boom
Cardillo family opens Boomx Cannabis Co., town's first recreational dispensary
SHIRLEY >> Boomx Cannabis Co., the town’s first recreational marijuana dispensary, is a family affair for the Cardillos.
Located at 114 Lancaster Road in a property that boasts 45,000 square feet of space, the business is three years in the making for the Cardillo family. With a dynamic new name, the business was originally called “Thrive” when it was first proposed. A ribbon cutting was held Tuesday morning and “soft opening” was held not long before that.
Anthony Cardillo, whose family owns and operates Boomx, as well as a construction company that’s been in business since 1948 credits his wife Katie with the company’s new name. In addition to her involvement with the business, Cardillo said his father, his brother and his wife, are also all part of the business.
“This was going to be a landscape yard,” Cardillo said of the former airport property his family purchased from the Florio family years ago.
The permit process started in 2016 and continued for about a year. However, issues arose that slowed things down and the family decided to scratch the original project. Other options were discussed including building a large, one story structure that could be sectioned off as business condos — something they even received a special permit for.
“The town didn’t love the idea … but they did want the old airport developed,” Cardillo said.
Then came changes that shifted their focus and opened the door to a cannabis business.
With cannabis cultivation and retail facilities legalized in Massachusetts and other states, it became less controversial, almost conventional. A new town zoning bylaw allowed for a dispensary to be built on the site.
At first, the Cardillos thought about selling or leasing the property for that purpose, he said, but when that didn’t gel, they decided to go for it themselves.
“I’m an entrepreneur,” and this is just a “different kind” of manufacturing and retail set-up, he said.
Cardillo acknowledged risks, some unique to this business. But once they’d agreed to take the plunge, they went all in. “We spared no expense,” he said, noting valuable help from the law firm they hired, which specializes in assisting cannabis start-ups.
The Cardillos entered into a Host Community Agreement, or HCA, with the town, navigated through the rigorous regulatory process set by the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, or CCC, and the plan moved forward. Slowed some by the state-wide COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, it took three years to get here. But the building is now complete, landscaping and all. The interior is a work in progress.
Beyond the store, which is already serving customers, there was not a lot to see at first glance. Nothing green and growing, anyway. The two-story cultivation area is still a vast, open space, although a secondfloor office area with expansive, front-facing windows and a wide-angle view is taking shape.
The rest is mostly empty, except for the store, a few downstairs offices and the locked vault where the packaged product — in various forms — is stored on shelves.
Cameras are tucked in corners in every room. There is video everywhere, Cardillo said, inside and out.
The retail operation works like a fulfillment center, only smaller and minus the robots.
When a customer places an order at one of the five stations in the store out front, the “budtender” there enters it on a computer screen, which lists each item, with cost, and keeps a running balance. The customer can add or delete items at any point. Once finalized, the information is forwarded to staffers in the backroom vault and they bring it out.
That way, bud tenders like Dominique Behrens and Elliot “Eli” Garcia, who were working that day, don’t leave their posts to fill orders but stay with the customer throughout the transaction. Besides a safety measure, the intent is to create a positive experience for customers, they said.
There are specific gramlimits on the amount of cannabis product a customer can buy on any given day, including oils and edibles. Their purchases are packed into small black bags with handles, discreetly labeled with the Boomx logo.
Leading the way through the empty spaces slated to become “grow rooms,” Cardillo said it’s unclear right now how many, or how big they will be. And that, in turn, will determine the number of new hires the company will eventually need. For now, there are six to eight employees per shift.
Given the number of cannabis producers that have cropped up in New England over the last couple years, Boomx may not need to grow as much of their own cannabis as previously envisioned, he said. “When we started, we couldn’t get the product wholesale,” Cordillo said. Now, they can. And the business has become more competitive.
Boomx will offer a varied selection, Cardillo said. Budtenders know how to assist the customer and the effects of the two dominant strains — indica and sativa.
While some of the strains may sound foreign, Inventory Manager Sianna Bennett reels them off with aplomb. A culinary school graduated turned cannabis guru, she has mastered her field of expertise.
“I tell people those two are indicative for a newcomer,” she said. The percentage of THC is part of plant’s “terpene profile.” Chemical compounds it contains. A consumer, however, may shop more for effect than content.
For instance, there’s “linalool,” which is present in lavender and contributes to its aroma and relaxing properties. Some shoppers will go for taste, she said. Myrcene, for example, as in blueberries.
“All plants have terpenes,” she said. Some smell like hops, others, like tomatoes or various herbs.
Some of the selection process is trial and error, Cordillo adds. Customers may prefer different tastes. Fruity, zesty, citrus. The company website — boomxcannabis.com — offers guidance, with a cornucopia of products you can buy. For those 21 or older that is.
The menu includes preroll, vapes, tinctures, flower, beverages, edibles and concentrates. However, cus