HOPEDALE – Uxbridge-based Caroline’s Cannabis is one step closer to opening an adult-use marijuana store in Hopedale.
“I think everyone was in agreement that obviously it’s a business we’d like to see operating here in town,” Town Administrator Steven Sette said Monday night. “It was just a matter of putting an agreement together so it works for everybody.”
Planned for the industrial park near Hopedale’s small airport, the business would be the second Caroline’s Cannabis in Massachusetts. The first, which opened in March in Uxbridge, was the first female-owned retail-only business licensed under the state’s adult-use law.
On Monday night, Hopedale selectmen signed a host community agreement with owner Caroline Frankel, securing 3% of the business’ annual gross revenue, to be paid quarterly.
The agreement lasts five years, at which point selectmen and Frankel can negotiate new terms.
“I would just like to thank the board this evening for executing a host agreement with Caroline’s Cannabis, but I also want to commend the board … for supporting a small business here in Mass., but a woman-owned/operated one, and a social equity applicant with the state as well,” Frankel said. “It’s a big deal, and I thank you very much.”
Frankel told selectmen during a previous meeting that her Uxbridge store netted that town $92,000 this summer for its first quarter in operation.
Caroline’s Cannabis eyes second shop in Hopedale
A host community agreement is a state-required document as a potential marijuana business moves through the state process to open. Frankel will now schedule a community outreach meeting sometime in October, then apply to the state.
If everything goes smoothly, Hopedale’s Caroline’s Cannabis, 3,000 square feet proposed for 1 Menfi Way, could open next June. Frankel said she plans to operate it similarly to her Uxbridge location.
“We’re certainly looking at welcoming you to the town,” Selectman Brian Keyes said Monday. “We’re looking for this obviously to be a strong business partnership, and I think we’re well on our way for that to happen.”
Hopedale has courted a handful of marijuana businesses in the past year. Selectmen signed a similar agreement with MACA Industries, LLC, in June, which plans to open a grow facility at 2 Condon Way.
Hopedale signs agreement with marijuana cultivator
In May, Hopedale residents approved a change to zoning bylaws at Town Meeting that would allow marijuana businesses to set up shop in commercial zones with a special permit. The request was made by a resident looking to open a retail shop, like Caroline’s, called High Hopes.
Hopedale spring Town Meeting recap
Also Monday, Massachusetts resident Erin Pavane had a preliminary sit-down with selectmen to discuss a manufacturing facility, and the board is considering another host community agreement with cultivator Lifted Genetics.
“It looks like we’re very close to finalizing that host agreement with them,” Keyes said Monday, of Lifted Genetics, “but it’s not completed yet.”
Lifted Genetics was tabled to the Sept. 23 meeting.
Pavane’s business would extract THC to make edibles and other products, she told the board, with a focus on novelty items, like THC-infused chocolates. Pavane wouldn’t sell them directly – instead she would potentially sell them at places like Caroline’s Cannabis. She’s eyeing 5 Condon Way as a potential address.
Alison Bosma can be reached at 508-634-7582 or abosma@wickedlocal.com. Find her on Twitter at @AlisonBosma.
