Natural Agricultural Products has opened its doors for business, becoming the town’s second retail cannabis shop.
“I am so excited you wouldn’t believe it,” said owner Gary Leonard.
The shop will hold an official ribbon cutting on March 15 at 4 p.m., with food from the Italian Kitchen in Brockton and live music.
The 2,500-square-foot shop is located in the front corner of a longtime commercial building at 1437 Bedford Street. The renovated interior features multiple display cases of cannabis flowers, shelves of products, and digital customer service screens.
Leonard, a longtime area entrepreneur, said the shop has more than 400 varieties of products, including flowers, vape cartridges, pre-rolls, and edibles. He asked suppliers for brands and products not already found at other dispensaries in order to give customers options.
“We want to have different things,” Leonard said.
Abington’s first retail cannabis shop, Bud’s Goods & Provisions, opened in May 2021. However, Natural Agricultural Products is positioned to also be the town’s first manufacturing and cultivation operation. While the front of the building is a retail shop, the rest of the building is permitted to grow cannabis and eventually make cannabis-infused products. Leonard said he hopes to start growing across 10,000 square feet later this year.
The Board of Selectmen and Planning Board approved permits for Natural Agricultural Products back in 2021. Final approvals from the Cannabis Control Commission came in February. The prep work has included a fully renovated interior retail space, a fresh paint job for the building’s metal exterior, and new landscaping and signage. The front of the property remains a storage yard for First Student school buses.
A third retail cannabis shop, CannaBarn, is waiting for final signoffs from the Cannabis Control Commission. CannaBarn is also hoping to eventually grow cannabis and manufacture their own products.
A fourth shop, Elevated Roots, is currently building out its retail storefront at 1432 Bedford Street. That shop also may eventually include a cultivation and manufacturing operation.
Massachusetts retail cannabis shops sold $1.56 billion worth of products in 2023, an increase of 5 percent over the previous year, according to state regulators. Sales have grown for six consecutive years.
Despite concerns about a saturated marketplace, only five retailers have turned in their licenses or let them expire.
In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2023, Abington collected $335,000 in local sales tax revenue. Town Manager Scott Lambiase said the town is budgeting for a small increase — about $50,000 — in total cannabis sales tax collections from the new shops coming online
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