GREATER SPRINGFIELD – To say cannabis has become big business in Massachusetts would be an understatement. According to an Nov. 20, 2020, article in the Boston Business Journal, adult use retail sales of cannabis products had exceeded $1 billion by Oct. 30, 2020, a short two years after the state approved it as a legal business model.

Since the inception of Gov. Charlie Baker’s Cannabis Control Commission in August of 2017, that body has reportedly overseen the completion of 986 cannabis business licenses, with a total of 196 of those belonging to dispensaries and grow operations located in Hampden (53 licenses), Hampshire (45 licenses), Franklin (33 licenses) and Berkshire (65 licenses) counties. Boston Business also cites Holyoke as the emerging cannabis capital of the state, surpassing both Boston and Worcester in the number of cannabis-based businesses seeking licensure.

For a local perspective on the current – and future – state of the cannabis business in Western Massachusetts, Reminder Publishing reached out to three local purveyors – Theory Wellness, which operates an adult use dispensary located in Chicopee, Canna Provisions which currently operates adult use dispensaries in Holyoke and also in Easthampton shortly, and INSA, which has a medical dispensary in Springfield and both a medical and adult retail dispensary in Easthampton.

The customer

“I would say hands down the adult use [recreational] market is flourishing; it is the fastest growing component of the industry,” Meg Sanders, CEO of Canna Provisions told Reminder Publishing  about the cannabis landscape in Western Mass.  Of that growth, Sanders said the fastest adopters are consumers 50 years of age and older. “We see very strong numbers not just in Massachusetts, but industrywide.”

Lewis Goldstein, chief marketing officer for INSA, concurred, reiterating that his company has seen the strongest growth in adult retail use, despite operating two medical dispensaries. “The medical program is a very advantageous program for people who choose to take advantage of it,” Goldstein explained. “One, because it’s tax-free, and because there are different promotions we are allowed to give out to medical customers that we are not allowed to give to retail customers.” He added INSA does encourage customers to pursue a medical cannabis designation if it seems appropriate, but many are reluctant to go through the process for a variety of reasons, including job requirements. “That doesn’t mean medical [use] isn’t growing, but recreational [use] is growing faster.”

All three cannabis purveyors agreed that of all the products currently available to the adult use market, flower is by and large the biggest seller in Western Massachusetts, followed, in smaller numbers, by other forms of cannabis.

“For most folks the interest is in flower,” Thomas Winstanley, vice president of marketing for Theory Wellness, told Reminder Publishing. “Edibles are also in high demand, following that is vaporizers; that’s probably consistent across the market and mirrors what we’ve seen in other more mature [cannabis] markets as well.”

Sanders concurred, indicating that flower constituted 50 percent of the adult retail sales at Canna Provisions.“Around 20 percent is vape purchase, followed by 20 percent infused  products – led by gummies – 10 percent in tinctures and concentrates, and topicals [lotions] would be under 10 percent,” she shared.

The COVID ‘bump’

Like all businesses, the coronavirus pandemic caused cannabis dispensaries such as Canna Provisions, Theory Wellness and INSA to pause and pivot their business models last March.

Winstanley said the timing of Baker’s shutdown orders was especially difficult for Theory Wellness, which had been working during February 2020 to get their Chicopee location open to the public.

“We ultimately opened on Feb. 29, a very hilarious day, which is a leap year – technically we won’t be able to celebrate our anniversary for four years – and on March 24 Baker issued the order to close all recreational dispensaries for COVID-19 response.

“We had just opened and our team was just getting ready to operate, customers were excited, and the shutdown came,” Winstanley continued. “It was a tough time, probably one of the most difficult times we have faced as a company.”

He said like other cannabis dispensaries, Theory Wellness was able to reopen under Baker’s orders on May 24, and since then has done “very well.”

“We’ve had to evolve the approach to business,” Winstanley said. “Create a very safe environment not just for customers, but for our teams and invent a safe experience to provide cannabis.”

For Theory Wellness, as well as Canna Provisions and INSA, that meant employing strategies such as shopping appointments, online pre-ordering, curbside pickup and even as restrictions eased, limiting numbers of customers in their dispensaries.

“We have seen cannabis [usage] continue to grow during COVID,” Goldstein noted of INSA’s experience since March. “Where it is COVID-related, it [seems] related to cannabis helping with anxiety, or things related to it [such as sleep]. In theory there are many things that cannabis is known for that can help people during unprecedented times like these.”

The marketplace

All three of these dispensaries are already major players in the Massachusetts market – Canna provisions has locations in Lee, Holyoke and Easthampton and a grow facility in Sheffield; Theory Wellness has locations in Great Barrington, Chicopee and Bridgewater, as well as two locations in Maine; and INSA has locations in Salem, Easthampton and Springfield, with a third Springfield location planned for the former Luxe Burger Bar on Columbus Avenue, just a stone’s throw from the MGM casino. And all acknowledge the state’s fairly new cannabis market is primed for growth.

“It’s a competitive market and it is getting more competitive,” said Erik Williams, COO of Canna Provisions. “But the market is also growing. Ten years ago, the pace we are at now would have seemed absurd.”

Williams also acknowledged that the structure of the Massachusetts cannabis business market – with an emphasis on local control – both puts restrictions on how big a company can become and increases the probability of more players entering the marketplace. “But we wouldn’t have gotten into this market if we didn’t believe it would expand, if the customers weren’t already there before legalization. We expected it to grow, we’d seen it across the country,” he acknowledged.

Winstanley said Theory Wellness hasn’t really felt the effects of market competition yet, “but we haven’t been looking too hard. Our focus is how can we provide the best cannabis experience. We put our focus inward instead of outward to see what everyone else is doing.” After the bumpy opening at their Chicopee location, he said Theory Wellness has been “focused on what we can do right, what we can do better and what we can learn from [our experiences]. If we can focus on those things we will set ourselves up for success” in a growing market.

Goldstein said INSA sees “both the market growing overall and where there’s more competition, clearly there is more of a necessity to commit to where we are and why we are different” to stand out.

“We’ll be focusing on education and customer service as the new competitors come on board,” Goldstein continued. “We haven't really seen an effect on our business, but we’re smart enough to know that you can’t take that for granted, you can’t take any situation for granted.”

Looking ahead

Williams said looking to the future, Canna Provisions sees growth in cannabis from health-focused consumers.

“Seventy percent of our customers use cannabis for their version of wellness,” Williams said. “If we just keep up with that trend of wellness, that’s a lot of new consumers who will be coming into this market in the coming years.”

Sanders said as the market matures, she expects to see a shift in attitudes toward the choice of dispensaries. “People are spending good money, at some point they will be looking for more than just a transaction across the counter, and business will have to adapt,” she said. “We pride ourselves on meeting the customer where they are in their cannabis journey. It’s not just ‘what do you want,’ but ‘what do you want from your cannabis journey.’” An expanded product selection, with an emphasis on “craft-type” cannabis grown by local farmers and manufactured in local facilities, are part of the plans to differentiate Canna Provisions from its competition moving forward.

Sanders is also excited by a new ruling that will allow dispensaries to sell non-cannabis products such as hats and T-shirts, as well as hemp oil products from Massachusetts hemp farmers.

Goldstein said part of INSA’s plans for the future include establishing a customer service hub in Chicopee in the coming year that will “offer customers service via phone, via chat, via email, that will be open during all of the hours [of our dispensaries] so that people can get help in any way they choose.”

INSA is also working on a “unique, proprietary type of flower that we grow” and on introducing a new line of edibles. “We hired a master chocolatier who has been in the business for 40 years, who just moved here from Portland, to develop a line of [infused] chocolates,” Goldstein said, adding that INSA recently expanded its kitchen “to provide a consistent supply of edibles” and is developing a line of lotions with both non-psychoactive CBD and psychoactive THC, sold under the exclusive name of Kaylee in their dispensaries.

Winstanley said Theory Wellness is planning to double down on improving its customer service and cannabis education for its customers and potential customers, as well as looking forward to continued changes in state and federal legal landscapes for cannabis businesses as acceptance grows in society.