Worcester Cannabis Retailer Wants To Open In Ivy Corset Building

WORCESTER, MA — A cannabis company is seeking permission to open a retail store in Worcester's Ivy Corset Building, home to a variety of local startups, artists and small businesses.

The owners behind the Corner Emporium will go to the Zoning Board of Appeals on Monday to discuss their plans. The application calls for a 3,600 square-foot store on the second floor of the Jackson Street building, according to documents submitted to the city.

Renderings submitted with the application show the storefront at the back side of the building underneath the Ivy Corset's chimney stack. The owners say they will renovate almost the entire second floor of the build and upgrade parking.

The Corner Emporium was one of 122 marijuana businesses that received economic empowerment certification from the Cannabis Control Commission in 2018. That program provides priority licenses to retailers opening in areas that have been disproportionately impacted by marijuana enforcement.

"The Corner is a minority-owned business with a mission of providing ownership, employment, education and opportunity to communities most harmed by marijuana prohibition," the ZBA application says. "The Corner will aim to provide diversity initiatives in the form of career counseling for minorities wanting to participate in the industry, business workshops for entrepreneurs, marijuana education outreach, and overall access to economic empowerment services for individuals with marijuana related CORI’s."

The owners of the Corner Emporium are listed on the application as CEO Joseph Johnson and CFO Edry Jimenez.

Worcester has become a hub for marijuana retail stores, with three opening since the beginning of summer alone — Bud's Goods & Provisions opened just last week along West Boylston Street. If approved, the Corner Emporium would be the first cannabis retailer in the Main South area.