KITTERY, Maine — It may be tough to think about, but the holiday shopping season is almost upon us, meaning thousands of Mainers and tourists will soon flood the Kittery Outlets.
Starting Friday, there will be a new shop for customers to check out, but there is an age requirement.
Theory Wellness, a cannabis company, will open its fourth shop in Maine.
“Having a Theory Wellness dispensary flanked between an Adidas [store] and a Nike [store] and other national retail brands is not what I expected to see," Theory Wellness Chief Marketing Officer Thomas Winstanley said Thursday.
The adult-use cannabis store will officially open at 10 a.m. Friday at 8 Dexter Lane in Kittery. Adults 21 years and older are allowed to buy a wide variety of products from the store.
Winstanley said the dispensary itself awaits proper signage and other merchandise, but customers can expect to buy Theory Wellness products they're used to on opening day.
The company has two recreational dispensaries in Massachusetts, as well as stores in South Portland, Waterville, and Bangor.
“We do not want to be a large faceless company that comes in. We want to make sure we have ties to the local areas," Winstanley added. “We don’t want to come in, and we don’t want to scale just for the sake of getting bigger. We want to be meaningful in that operation.”
The company has worked with local nonprofits in each community where it's opened a location.
As the cannabis industry grows in Maine, Winstanley believes there is room for larger companies and hyperlocal stores to all share the market because of potential new customers.
Creating a happy environment for customers in Kittery will be up to dispensary manager Adam Mulligan. While some employees live in the local area in Maine, others are coming from New Hampshire, where the recreational market remains illegal.