Page 36 - BusinessWest April 1, 2024

The leaders of Dazed Cannabis hope the recent Monson grand opening isn’t their last, but one of many more.
Photo by Marsco Media for Dazed Cannabis
opening anything. They’re all different in where the traffic is coming from and how we attract different folks to different stores.”
At a time when competition is fierce and some stores have actu- ally closed in Massachusetts, Dazed’s focus on customer experience and steady growth has been a winner, he added.
“In 2018, 2019, you had people who were the only game in town. And that worked for those who were able to get themselves positioned to be the first in the market. They had months, even
years where they were cranking as liter- ally the only game in town.”
“We never experienced that. We were never the first,” he continued, under- standing that being the first shop in Monson is still being one of nearly 400 in Massachusetts. And amid increasing competition, Vianello doesn’t intend to engage in a race to the bottom when it comes to pricing.
“We’ve seen people trying to undercut the next guy by 10 cents and create an environment where you devalue the pur- pose of even being there,” he explained. “Understanding that price is always part of what people consider when shopping, you still have to differentiate yourself; you have to make yourself stand out. Ideally, you want people that are coming to you rather than other people because they like what you have going on.”
By doing so, he said, “we’re creating our own lane, our own pie, instead of slicing up what’s already out there.”
Rolling with the Punches
And there is, indeed, a lot out there, and still considerable debate over whether the burgeoning cannabis industry has a ceiling or whether there’s enough growth potential — from new users or consumers rejecting the illegal market to buy from regulated stores — to make up for more competition emerging from both within the Bay State and from outside its borders.
“A lot of it comes down to community outreach, giving people the information they need to buy legal rather than what they’ve been doing the last 20 years,” Vianello said.
The discussion these days around a possible ceiling for the
“We’re creating our own lane, our own pie, instead of slicing up what’s already out there.”
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