TerrAscend opens largest East Coast dispensary in Maplewood (updated)

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TerrAscend Corp. quietly opened its largest East Coast dispensary, The Apothecarium in Maplewood, on May 4, and held its grand opening May 7.

The multi-state operator runs a location in Phillipsburg supplied by the crop of its grow in Boonton Township, which will now grow product for the 6,500-square-foot store.

On the size of the dispensary—more than three times the size of an average dispensary—Senior Vice President of Retail Operations TerrAscend subsidiary Ilera Healthcare Chantelle Elsner said TerrAscend built The Apothecarium Maplewood “for the future”: For adult use.

“We designed a store that gives people the ability to come in and shop and browse. We have a bud bar where we can display cannabis in tethered little cannapods, where you can come in and take a look at the flower and smell it. You can walk around and see all our brands and products on the floor, similar to an Apple store. It gives you a very mainstream shopping experience,” she said.

There’s room for 15 registers, seven of which are operational already; and the back-of-house has a garage for suppliers to drive their vehicles in and unload product, an intake room where everything is counted, and a large vault.

“One of our great learnings of being operators in other states is that our vault is always simply too small. We decided to learn from the mistakes in the past and build a really large vault,” Elsner said.

TerrAscend’s business is roughly 60% online orders, something that grew over the last year. The size of the dispensary supports the logistics of online orders, curbside and delivery.

A third location, smaller than The Apothecarium Maplewood, is planned at a to-be-announced location for early fall. Each location will have TerrAscend’s Kind Tree brand products as well as products from other in-state operators including Curaleaf and Verano.

“We’re just really excited to be here, grateful for the mayor and town council, and all the support they provided us here,” Elsner said. “Without support from the locals, it makes this business really challenging.”

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story indicated that TerrAscend’s grow facility is located in Boonton. It is located in Boonton Township, not the Town of Boonton, and the story has been updated to clarify that.