Latest marijuana shop to open this month just over the N.S. border

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MILLVILLE, Mass. – Tucked away in a building just beside the North Smithfield highway garage on Quaker Highway, two Massachusetts men will open Millville’s first cannabis retail store within the next few weeks.

Garden Wonders will share the small plaza at 1 Buxton St. with Marty’s Liquors, selling cannabis products and accessories, including topicals, edibles, tinctures, vape cartridges, pre-rolls and more.

According to the application filed with the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, the business is owned by Mino Soghomoian and Sean Siegal. The pair also works together at beer and wine distributing company headquartered in Holliston, Mass., Atlantic Beverage Distribution, where Siegal serves as owner/president and Soghomoian is the general sales manager.

The company will sublease a 1,000-square-foot space in the building, located just feet over the North Smithfield border. On the Rhode Island side of that line, possession of up to one ounce of the products the store will sell is decriminalized for those without a medical card, but is still considered a civil violation.

While several retail cannabis businesses have already opened in the neighboring state, including Caroline’s Cannabis, which opened in Uxbridge in 2019, Garden Wonders is on track to be the closest to the state border, where laws governing the substance change. Millville signed a community host agreement with the business in 2018, and owners have since followed a regulatory process to obtain a provisional license,  including background checks.

State law also dictates that the process also includes submission of a diversity plan to ensure fair participation in the regulated cannabis industry, and Garden Wonders plans to provide employment opportunities to women and veterans, according to the application.

The town of Millville will collect an annual “community impact fee,” of up to 3 percent of the business’s gross revenue according to the host agreement, an estimated windfall of $6.8 million a year.

A post on the Garden Wonders Facebook page on Friday, Jan. 29 notes that the store is “gearing up to open within the next few weeks.” Renovations to the physical space are complete, and an online store for pick-up orders featuring many of the products is already in place.

“We truly cannot wait to open our doors and serve you some of the finest recreational products that this area has to offer,” the business noted.

Once its doors officially open, Garden Wonders will hold hours Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 7 p.m.

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