420 IN THE 508: APRIL 2021
Logo by Kevin La
It’s a New Dawn, It’s a New Día
Worcester’s newly-opened recreational dispensary, New Día, is a hidden gem. Tucked away in the corner of a strip mall on Cambridge Street is the first dispensary to open using the economic empowerment benefits. The facility is very unassuming, with a limited amount of signage or visual indicators to show that you are at a cannabis dispensary. However, on the other side of the front door, customers are welcomed with a clean and modern shopping experience. Similar to how Good Chemistry, on Harrison Street is set up, customers immediately interact with a staff member at the front door who asks to see identification. Once cleared, you’re buzzed into the main dispensary area. The lighting is chill to match the vibe of the whole room. There are sleek displays that are minimally designed to feature various products that are for sale. I particularly enjoyed a small hand statue holding some of the edibles. I was pumped to see owner Ross Bradshaw sitting at the front desk on a Saturday morning, welcoming in new customers, then running into the showroom to help one of the budtenders solve an issue with the register. It was charming to get “small business vibes” from a dispensary. I’m excited to see what New Día adds to their product list and stoked to have another cannabis option in the area.
Seltzer Time!
For those that don’t know, I happen to be a pretty big fan of seltzer. So much so that I have a podcast about it, but I digress. Thanks to my friend Anna over at Nature’s Remedy, I got to try two flavors of the brand new LEVIA: Cannabis Infused Seltzers that’s been hitting the shelves. As a connoisseur of carbonated water, I shouldn’t need to tell you that I was really stoked to try it. I don’t eat a lot of edibles but this seltzer was up my alley. I’ve tried both the Lemon-Lime “Celebrate” and the Raspberry-Lime “Achieve”. Both flavors taste great with only subtle herbal notes. They are a little pricey though. Each can has 5 mg inside and costs $7 at most places I’ve seen it. The top to the can is especially annoying to remove, but I’ll save my rant on packaging for a future column.
It’s like this, I don’t really drink alcohol. So it was nice to have a carbonated adult beverage with my wife. They are probably not something I would drink every day but I definitely plan on enjoying some with friends this summer. Normally I’d be pounding seltzers at an outdoor party but knowing that there’s 5 mg of THC will make me savor it a little more.
Free Million Dollar Idea
Are you still buying off the street? I gave it up somewhere in the middle of the pandemic and now that I have my medical card there’s really no looking back. I know some people will never want to make the switch, and will always try to make their purchases from non-licensed sellers. So an idea I had is that a dispensary in our area should design the interior of their facility to look like the basement of a shady triple decker. Keep the glass cases, but maybe put some fake cracks in them? Definitely put some bummy couches and some trippy posters on the wall. Maybe just pay some older stoner to hang out all day and tell weird stories. I know we can’t smoke in the facility but it’d be a lot cooler if we could. That being said I have to believe that there’s less and less of these types of buying experiences happening. With the dispensary pricing closing in on the street pricing, I feel like it’s only a matter of time for the truly independent shops to fold up. For me, it’s the consistency. I like having consistent strains to rely on and also like knowing that I can just go to the weed store whenever I need to. Unless it’s really late on a Sunday night and I’ve screwed up my rationing again. At the end of the day there’s no judgment from me. I am all for whatever is best for you. But seriously, somebody should really consider turning a dispensary into a more traditional buying experience.
Thanks for reading, have a merry 4/20, and happy trails!
-Travis
