Cannabis MSO Trulieve ceasing operations in Massachusetts
By MJBizDaily Staff
June 6, 2023
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Florida-based multistate marijuana operator Trulieve Cannabis is shutting down operations in Massachusetts and further downsizing in California.
The company hopes the moves will “preserve cash and improve financial performance,” according to a news release.
Trulieve’s three Massachusetts dispensaries – in Framingham, Northampton and Worcester – will close on June 3. Its cultivation and processing facility in Holyoke will shutter by year’s end.
The company also will close its marijuana retail location in Grover Beach, California.
A total of 128 employees will be affected by the cuts, said a spokesperson for Trulieve Cannabis in an email to MJBizDaily.
Kim Rivers, Trulieve’s chief executive officer, said in a statement that the most recent cuts are part of the company’s plans to jettison “non-contributive assets” and grow its core markets.
In Florida, one of Trulieve’s core markets, the company has contributed more than $25 million toward an adult-use cannabis legalization advocacy campaign.
Trulieve reduced its California footprint, shuttered its Nevada operations and downsized its total workforce by approximately 16% last year.
The company attributed its lower-than-expected revenues in Massachusetts during 2022 to price compression and competition in its full-year financial results.
“We remain fully confident in our strategic position and the long term prospects for the industry,” Rivers said in the statement.
The Source+, another cannabis retailer in Northampton, closed in December.
After one of its Massachusetts employees died last year, the company agreed to pay a reduced fine to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and to research the safety risks of ground cannabis dust in the workplace.
