Owner of The Cannabis Shop, Monique Brochu (left) of Hardwick, and store manager Alene Wheeler (right) of Sheffield, are getting ready for a limited opening of the business for April 12 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. with a grand opening April 20 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Cannabis Shop is located in the Hardwick Inn.
HARDWICK – Monique Brochu, owner of Hardwick’s long-awaited Cannabis Shop, is planning to open Friday, April 12 with a limited product selection.
Brochu’s state and town permits and approvals are in place. She reports that getting ready to open has now mostly been a matter of sourcing products.
The store will not be fully stocked at first, but she expects to have a grand opening on Wednesday, April 20, known as “four-twenty,” cannabis slang for marijuana and hashish consumption around the time of 4:20 p.m., and now a date for annual cannabis-oriented celebrations.
Brochu had been successfully farming and growing marijuana for dispensaries in Maine before deciding to return to Hardwick, where she grew up and attended schools, since the legalization of retail marijuana sales.
Brochu says that her own health issues have been helped by appropriate marijuana use because it affects the nervous system in positive ways. Her experience working with veterans and older people to help with sleep is a more holistic method to get people the help they need.
She says cannabis use can help avoid the cycle some people fall into when using pharmaceutical products and new medications need to be added to counteract the effects of others.
The Cannabis Shop is in the Hardwick Inn, now owned by Levi Bourne of Walden. Brochu says Bourne has been supportive of her business and the transition from former owner Larry Hamel has been seamless. She says Hamel is working closely with Bourne and has been available to assist with some aspects of the building as she has been preparing to open.
“Levi is wonderful,” says Brochu who added that she and Bourne have discussed refreshing the appearance of the building’s front, facing the street, and upgrading security measures.
Brochu’s father, Mike Brochu, who owns Mike’s Service Center next door with his brother and Monique’s uncle, Tom, says he is proud that his daughter has found a business that seems very secure.
Monique Brochu says she’ll only be working with local farmers and not just local, meaning Vermont, but local meaning with Legacy Vermont Cannabis in Eden Mills and Michael Parker at All Bliss Cannabis in Mackville.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
