Plans for the nation’s first topless cannabis store seem to have been abandoned.
According to a story on MassLive.com, co-owner Nicholas Spagnola said opening a topless dispensary in Whatley, Massachusetts, is “no longer a priority” since he and his business partner have shifted their focus to reopening Club Castaway, the site of the proposed dispensary, this summer.
Spagnola told Whately officials in February 2023 that he and co-owner Julius Sokol were considering converting the business into a cannabis store “with a twist.”
“There are a lot of dispensaries open, and you need a niche to be successful,” Spagnola told the board.
Club Castaway was operational as a strip club for only a few months in 2020 before being forced to close due to the coronavirus pandemic. It has been the only strip club in Franklin Country since it first opened in the 1970s. Spagnola and Sokol purchased the club in late 2019. Now that they have abandoned plans to open a licensed cannabis retail store where customers would be served by topless budtenders, the two owners are renovating the location’s sound system and stage with hopes of reopening as a strip club in August.
— Patrick Wagner