Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1115353
wbjournal.com | May 13, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 13 is proud partners with Insuring America's GrowTH Cos. Ryan R. Logan AAI, CRIS | rlogan@fosterinsurance.com | (978) 343-6946 | www.SafeHerb.com T H E B U S I N E S S O F M A R I J U A N A F O C U S By 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. LET US CULTIVATE YOUR GROWTH BY IGNITING YOUR CANNABIS BRAND. WWW.INDICATIVEMARKETING.COM/IGNITE BRANDING | PACKAGE DESIGN | WEBSITE DESIGN MARKETING | VIDEO | LEAD GENERATION (508) 713-0146 IGNITE@INDICATIVEMARKETING.COM WWW.INDICATIVEMARKETING.COM WORCESTER OFFICE 20 FRANKLIN ST. #100 WORCESTER, MA 01608 A majority of the state's 351 cities and towns have passed temporary bans keeping out any shops while officials consider their options. Worcester has approved a cap on retail locations tying the maximum number of shops to the number of liquor stores in the city. Pot shops can number 20% of the number of liquor stores in Worcester, or up to 15. Matt Huron, the president and CEO of Good Chemistry, the first retail shop in Worcester to sell recreational marijuana, said he sees 15 shops in Worcester as a realistic number balancing supply and demand. He has worked to help customers find other nearby businesses in the Canal District and predicts an economic spillover effect from new shops. "It can be very beneficial for cities and towns and the state overall," said Huron, whose company has operations in Colorado and California. A national look Eugene isn't alone in illustrating just how much demand can exist for store- bought pot. e Oregon capital of Salem, which is just smaller than Worcester, has more than 40 shops, including nine in a three- mile stretch. In Colorado, Denver, a city of more than 700,000, has 180 shops. Other cities have numbers more in line with what Worcester would have at its maximum. Modesto, Calif., with 214,000 people, has 13. Modesto has a limit on where stores can operate, but it has demand for more, said Gokce Soydemir, an economics professor at nearby California State University Stanislaus. "ere's demand for more," Soydemir said of Modesto, a city southeast of the Bay Area. "Considering the population, the market can support more, easily." In Pueblo, Colo., 25 pot shops operate in a city of 111,000. Among the operators are Jim Parco, a business professor at Colorado College and the owner of Mesa Organics. Parco studies the industry but touts the creation of new jobs and tax revenue, including the 18 who work in his retail store. His shop in Pueblo took the place of a long- vacant and vandalized restaurant. e visible transformation of retail areas are the most notable change where cannabis is legal, he said. "You see vacant buildings that are no longer vacant," Parco said. W