Page 35 - BusinessWest April 1, 2024

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Expanding Their Vision
Dazed Cannabis Continues to Grow Its Footprint — and Its Goals
BY JOSEPH BEDNAR
[email protected]
hris Vianello said he and his partners at Dazed Cannabis never intended to be the first player on the scene. In fact, their first dispensary in Holyoke, which opened in 2021, was that city’s fourth.
“We were never the only game in town. That’s not our model. If our only claim to fame is that we’re the only game in town, that’s not a sustainable business practice,” Vianello said, noting that Dazed instead stresses quality prod- ucts and its friendly but funky vibe. “We anticipated competi- tion going into this, especially because Holyoke is not a limited- license jurisdiction.”
The model has worked. Not only has the Holyoke shop has
survived a raft of competition, but Dazed co-owners Vianello, Rich Rainone, and Keshawn Warner have opened two stores since then: in New York City in 2023 (first as a pop-up shop in April and then a permanent storefront in November) and, just last month, in Monson, where Dazed is currently the only can- nabis game in town.
That store, where the Magic Lantern strip club operated for more than a half-century before closing in 2022, honors the location’s history by keeping a small stage and dancer’s pole as part of the décor.
Rainone told the Cannabis Business Times recently that the first 90 days after a dispensary’s opening are the most turbu- lent. The first month is all about establishing operating proce- dures and employee routines, the second about fixing the chal- lenges of the first 30 days, and the third month about putting it all together and excelling.
He told the publication that Dazed is a “fun party brand,” with visitors encountering a “meet and greet” before they get to security, and the environment inside the shop character- ized by music playing and a pink-dominated color scheme that extends to all three dispensaries.
When asked why the team chose each location, Vianello told BusinessWest they appeal in different ways.
“You try to find the balance between what’s the ideal loca- tion and what’s a doable location,” he said. “We try to straddle that balance; we don’t want to open up a dispensary just any- where because that’s not going to work, but also we don’t want to get stuck looking for the perfect location and end up not
“We were never the only game
in town. That’s not our model. If our only claim to fame is that we’re the only game
in town, that’s not a sustainable business practice.”
BusinessWest
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APRIL 1, 2024 35
Co-owners Chris Vianello, Rich Rainone, and Keshawn Warner.
Photo by Savanna SLUSA Productions for Dazed Cannabis