Blackstone market wants to sell pot Main Street’s Family Grocer applies for a retail cannabis license
BLACKSTONE – For more than 10 years, the Family Grocer convenience store on Main Street has been a onestop shop for town residents looking to purchase everything from beer and wine to deli meats and lottery tickets.
By this time next year, Family Grocer could be the place where Blackstonians buy their Purple Kush or Hima- laya Gold.
The family-owned and operated convenience store located adjacent to a stretch of the bike path as it crosses Main Street, is looking to become the town’s first licensed retail marijuana store, owner and manager Gurpreet Kalra told the selectmen Tuesday.
“New business opportunities are here and we want to be in on this and pursue those opportunities,” said Kalra, who has hired several lawyers to guide him through the process of applying for a provisional license from the state’s Cannabis Control Commission.
“We want to do this right and we need your support to make it happen,” he told the board.
There are five convenience or minimart type stores in Blackstone and Family Grocer is the first out of the gate to announce its intention to legally sell recreational marijuana in town.
Recreational marijuana sales have been legal since July 1, but by law nothing can be sold until it’s tested by a licensed lab for safety. Now that two testing labs have licenses and a handful of marijuana businesses have provisional licenses, the Cannabis Control Commission says recreational pot shops are just around the corner and that once inspections are completed,
full licenses can be granted within the next month.
So far, a total of 11 retail stores have been given provisional approval by the CCC. They are expected to be located in Leicester, Amesbury, Brookline, Northampton, Wareham, Plymouth, Easthampton, Salem, Fall River, Lowell and Greenfield.
The commission has issued provisional licenses for seven cultivation facilities, which combined will be allowed to grow up to 225,000 square feet of marijuana canopy at a time. Those growing facilities are to be located in Leicester, Amesbury, Franklin, Plymouth, Easthampton, Lowell and Fall River.
As of this week, the CCC had another 95 applications pending before it – 21 applications awaiting CCC review; 48 that have been deemed incomplete and returned to the applicant to provide additional information; and 26 for which the CCC is waiting to hear back from either its background check vendor or the host community.
Kalra said getting in on the ground-floor of the budding recre-
ational marijuana industry in Massachusetts would benefit both his business and the town.
“There are surrounding towns that will be getting in on this, so why not get in on it earlier than later?” he told the board Tuesday. “This can be a revenue-grower for the town.”
Town Administrator Daniel M. Keyes said Family Grocer is the first business in town to express an interest in selling recreational marijuana, adding the town has zoning regulations for various marijuana businesses, which are restricted to commercial and industrial zones.
“My understanding is that the first thing that needs to happen is for the business to notify the town that it has an interest in cannabis sales,” he said. “After that there would need to be a public hearing before it goes through a three-month public comment period. Then they would come back and discuss a tax and other agreements with the town.”
Prospective marijuana businesses are required to secure host community agreements before they can apply for a license from the state. Under the law, local officials can also set the tax rate on marijuana sold within their city or town’s limits, up to 3 percent. Unlike medical
marijuana, recreational cannabis will be taxed. The state plans to levy a 6.25 percent sales tax and 10.75 percent excise tax, and leave to the discretion of municipal officials an option to levy the local tax up to 3 percent.
The Blackstone selectmen say they will invite town attorney Patrick Costello to its meeting in October to offer guidance on how the town should proceed with Family Grocer’s proposal.
The fledgling Massachusetts marijuana industry is making significant inroads in the Blackstone Valley where towns like Blackstone, Millville and Uxbridge have been courted in recent months by marijuana businesses.
In Millville, town officials are preparing to begin preliminary negotiations on a host community agreement with two of the three marijuana businesses interested in that town’s two available marijuana licenses. The board was scheduled to meet this week in executive session with Marty’s Fine Wines and Spirits on Buxton Street, which is considering applying for both licenses for retail sales and or cultivation.
After that meeting, the board was expected to hold a similar meet-
ing with the co-owners of Rhode Island Medical Marijuana Cultivation Company, which is proposing to operate a marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facility with a potential retail component on privately-owned property on Lincoln Street.
A third meeting may be held with Bay State Canna Holdings, LLC, a company based in Western Massachusetts.
In April, Millville town voters approved a new marijuana bylaw and zoning requirements for marijuana retail sales and cultivation businesses. The bylaw encompasses both medical marijuana businesses and recreational marijuana businesses, neither of which the town had zoned for prior to the special town meeting.
The bylaw allows all uses – cultivation, medical use dispensaries, product manufacturers, recreational retailers, distribution facilities and product testing facilities – only in the town’s commercial business district and only by special permit.
Meanwhile, in Uxbridge, voters at the annual fall town meeting in October will be asked to amend that town’s marijuana bylaw to increase the number of marijuana facilities – excluding retailers and medical treatment centers – from three to 12.
By agreeing to amend the bylaw, the maximum number of marijuana cultivators, marijuana testing facilities, research facilities, marijuana product manufacturer or any other type of licensed marijuana-related business (exclusive of marijuana retailers or marijuana treatment centers) would be no more than 12 in total, while the maximum number of medical marijuana treatment centers would be no more than three.
So far, the selectmen have voted to enter host community agreements with three recreational marijuana establishments, Xiphias Wellness, Gibby’s Garden and Caroline’s Cannabis, LLC, and with Blackstone Valley Naturals LLC, which is looking operate a cultivation and manufacturing, or processing facility, at 660 Douglas Street.
The board has also voted to enter a host community agreement with Baked Bean LLC for a marijuana processing and transportation establishment at 504 Quaker Highway.
Not every community supports recreational marijuana, however. Bellingham, Milford and Norfolk, for example, have outright banned recreational retail shops, at least for now.