When Marco and Amanda Aranzullo launched the Euphorium Dispensary, they had little more than "our savings and a vision."
But that money went quickly as their aspirations ran into a hard reality. The couple lost $85,000 to a construction dispute, switched the site of the store to Holyoke from Northampton, and spent their last dollars on costly insurance. Their experience was typical for new cannabis businesses in Massachusetts: lengthy, exhausting, and expensive.
Though the dispensary only opened in July, the Aranzullos already need money to keep operating and pay the $30,000 fee to renew Euphorium's three cannabis licenses. And so they now wonder: Is it worth it?
"It's going to come to the point where it might be better to sell out altogether," Marco said. "It's not like I can go to a bank to get a working capital loan. I've already maxed out what I have. We need an investor."
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