SOUTHAMPTON – A recreational cannabis dispensary called Dreamer Cannabis has opened as the first and only licensed dispensary in the town of Southampton.

Located on 15 College Hwy., Unit G-2, the dispensary began when current Dreamer owner Volkan Polatol reached out to Kevin Perrier, the president of Five Star Building Corp., about the possibility of Five Star building a dispensary in Northampton and in Southampton.

Perrier ended up partnering with Polatol on both dispensary endeavors. Five Star built the Dreamer dispensary and Southampton, and is currently working on building the Northampton one, which is called High Five. They are building a manufacturing location in Easthampton, as well.

“We started this in July of last year in terms of design, licensing, and special permits with the town,” said Perrier, with regard to the Dreamer project specifically. “It’s just a really lengthy process, mainly with the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC).”

After going through the special permitting process with Southampton at the end of the summer, construction began in September and continued through the end of the year.

“It’s a pretty warm and inviting interior,” said Perrier, when describing the store. “I think it’s something different than we’ve seen at other locations.”

The dispensary will host a grand opening on June 19, which will feature the Changes in Latitude band, as well as food trucks, hot air balloon rides, and a “few other fun surprises.” It will be a half day celebration from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. that day, according to Perrier. A couple senators will be present for the ribbon cutting, too.

Currently, the dispensary has about a dozen employees on staff, but they anticipate around 20 to 25 people on staff after their grand opening on June 19, according to Polatol.

“When we have our grand opening, we should have around 40 strains,” said Perrier, who added that the dispensary carries a couple of lines that nobody else has in western Massachusetts including one called “Just Incredibles.”

“We just wanted to open up nice and soft, work out the kinks, get our staff trained live-so that when the grand opening comes-we’re ready to roll,” said Polatol, who added that the process of opening Dreamer has been two years in the making. “[Southampton] has been very supportive and helpful from the beginning of adopting this.”

Polatol and company conducted many community outreach meetings throughout the past months to bring awareness to the dispensary. The owner describes the dispensary as having one of the most diverse cannabis selections in the area, selling anywhere from gummies, vapes, pills, oils, sip drinks, pre-rolls, etc.  

“Diversity is going to be one of the keys going forward,” said Polatol. “We want to keep it very fresh; we’re going to keep it very competitive.”

To prepare for the opening, Polatol said that the shop did their research by visiting California to see what the next phase of dispensaries may look like since the industry is a lot more established out there.

By the time the grand opening does occur, Polatol said that there will be more customer interaction with the products. For example, there will be an opportunity for the public to smell some product when it arrives in the future.

“We wanted to do something that wasn’t cookie cutter,” said Polatol. “We wanted to do something that’s a little different than what others are offering.”

Dreamer Cannabis is currently open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.