Abington is home to a number of businesses that deliver consumables: pizza, subs, flowers, chicken wings, lumber, roll-off dumpsters, to name a few.
Possibly coming soon? Cannabis.
Doorzips is looking to open a cannabis delivery service out of the South Shore Terminal facility on Route 18. The company is hosting a statutorily required public information session Thursday night at 7 p.m., at the 1431 Bedford Street location.
Demand for home delivery services has skyrocketed during the pandemic, spurred by advances in handheld technology and changes in consumer habits.
“We assume the same thing will happen for cannabis,” Doorzips CEO Donald Rodriquez said in an interview.
Unlike other cannabis-related businesses open or proposed for Abington, Doorzips will not have a physical retail location. Customers can browse the company’s selection online before placing orders. A small fleet of hybrid vehicles will then go out and make deliveries. Each GPS-tracked vehicle will typically carry multiple orders and utilize route management software to plot the most efficient paths. The company will use two people in each vehicle not just for safety reasons but also logistical ones, such as order changes or phone calls.
“We don’t want the driver dealing with things like that,” Rodriguez said. “It’s better to have someone who can handle those calls and make changes on the spot.”
The company’ will limit its delivery area to approximately an hour’s drive from Abington, according to Rodriquez. Because the sales originate in Abington, the town’s 3 percent local sales tax will apply.
Rodriguez, who is orginally from Lowell, spent more than six years in the U.S. Army where he was a calvary scout and also worked in a human resources-related role. He left the service with a number of injuries and says he qualifies as a 100 percent disabled veteran. He got into cannabis while trying to seek relief from his injuries.
“When I got out of the military, I had a lot of back pain, and cannabis helped me a lot without having to take a lot of pills,” he said.
But he also realized his specialty is not in growing the plant.
“I never had a green thumb. My grandma always did and I would try to help her, but I just kill everything, ” he said.
Instead, it’s his military and past business experience that he feels will help, especially considering the strict regulations and standards cannabis companies must adhere to.
“I know I can run an operation that requires me to deal with logistics and people,” he said.
When researching possible locations for his business, Rodriguez created a spreadsheet with possible locations and analyzed them by a range of factors including distance from Boston. When he reached out to Abington, Rodriguez was impressed.
“In speaking with a lot of different municipalities, you get a sense of cooperativeness and how much they want your business there,” he said. “Abington was definitely the most welcoming.”
Doorzips will take up 4 bays in the South Shore Terminal building totaling about 10,000 square feet of space. The build out will include constructing a secure vault for the cannabis products kept on hand.
Rodriguez said the company’s three-vehicle fleet will likely make three runs per day each.
The company has already signed a Host Community Agreement with the town of Abington similar to other cannabis operations that says, among other things, the town will receive a 3 percent community mitigation payment on top of the 3 percent local sales tax. Doorzips still needs to receive local permitting approval from the Planning Board.
Rodriguez said, if permitting and construction goes well, Doorzips could open for business this spring.
Doorzip is the fifth proposed cannabis operation proposed for Abington.
Bud’s Good’s and Provisions, Abington’s first retail cannabis shop, opened its doors earlier this year at 1540 Bedford Street.
Green Harbor Dispensary, a retail shop proposed for 1410 Bedford Street, has local approvals in hand but has not started construction.
Natural Agricultural Products has received approval to open a new cannabis retail, wholesale, cultivation, and manufacturing operation at 1447 Bedford Street.
NashMac, LLC, is also looking to open a combined cultvation, manuacturing, wholesale, and retail operation at 678 Adams Street. That company has signed its Host Community Agreement but has not filed for local permits.
Sources tell Abington News that another company is eyeing the new commercial complex at 500 Chestnut Street for a large growing and manufacturing operation. It would not contain a retail component. Town Meeting would also need to vote to expand the town’s marijuana zoning district to that area.