The first walk-in retail pot shop in greater Boston opened over the weekend. The Brookline branch of New England Treatment Access sells recreational marijuana products and officially opened for business beginning this past Saturday. NETA had caused a stir with the opening of its first store in Northampton, where lines stretched around the block and wait times exceeded two and a half hours on the first day of business in November, according to a Boston.com article from Nov. 20, 2018. The Brookline location opening did not yield the same kind of disruption this past Saturday, Boston.com reported on Mar. 23. The store’s opening day was smooth, according to the same article, despite serving 2,515 customers — around 500 more than the Northampton branch opening. 

The first customer was Brookline Selectman Neil Wishinsky. Wishinsky could hardly hear what the cashier was saying over the cheering of NETA employees in a video from the Saturday opening on Boston.com. He told CBS Boston at the event that he hoped the store would mean “additional tax revenue and hopefully additional business for some of the surrounding merchants.”  

The next customer was James Jenner, 38, of Salem, according to a Wicked Local Brookline article from Mar. 24. Jenner has diabetes, nerve pain and anxiety, which he uses marijuana to treat, according to the same article. “The accessibility is going to open this up to a lot of people who are in my situation, who need this kind of thing in their life just to lead a normal life, so it’s a great day. It’s historic, and I’m happy to be a part of it,” Jenner said.

This is the 13th dispensary to open for recreational sales in Massachusetts, according to a Mar. 23 article from WCVB. Another recreational store, Alternative Therapies Group, opened in Salem on Dec. 15, but has suspended sales indefinitely due to an issue with its inventory since Feb. 20, according to Boston.com. That store does not accept walk-ins.