Southeastern Massachusetts, rejoice. A Fall River recreational marijuana shop is opening this weekend, the ninth store to get state approval to start selling products for adult use.
Northeast Alternatives, which operates as a medical dispensary, will open Sunday for recreational sales. It received its “commence operations” notice from the state Cannabis Control Commission on Wednesday.
Though the store is the ninth to get state approval to open, it will be the eighth store to actually start recreational sales. Temescal Wellness in Hudson has been approved to open but has not yet announced an opening date.
“We believe strongly in the medicine and that cannabis is a healing plant that has a lot of different benefits for different people, whether you’re using it for strictly medical purposes or recreational purposes,” said Chris Harkins, owner of Northeast Alternatives.
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Because of the availability of products from a wholesale provider, Northeast Alternatives will not sell edibles at first but expects to have them available within a couple weeks, Harkins said.
The store is also a mere five-minute walk from Rhode Island, where Governor Gina Raimondo said this week she plans to formally propose recreational marijuana legalization in her budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
That being said, a reminder for Ocean State residents: Traveling across state lines with marijuana is not legal, nor is using marijuana in your car or in public.
Interested in visiting the Fall River store? Here’s what you need to know:
Where is the store?
The store is at 999 William S. Canning Boulevard in Fall River.
What are the hours?
The store will be open from noon to 9 p.m. Sunday — its opening day — and all future Sundays. Hours will be 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.
Getting in line with QLess
Instead of forming long lines outside, Northeast Alternatives will use QLess, an app that allows customers to join a “virtual line” approximately an hour before the store opens each day.
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The app will open at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Harkins said. Customers can text NEA to 508-687-5704 to get in line.
“Once they text to that number, they will get messages back about when their expected time of arrival will be, and they’ll get continual texts along the way,” Harkins said.
No walk-ins will be allowed for recreational sales.
Parking
The parking lot at Northeast Alternatives has about 60 parking spots available. There will not be a satellite lot because of the virtual line system.
Payment
The store will accept cash and will also have a cashless ATM system available, which will allow people to pay without cash but will charge a standard ATM fee.
Purchasing limits
The store will not have additional purchasing limits on opening day, beyond the state law of 1 ounce of marijuana or 5 grams of marijuana concentrate.
Harkins said they may have to change that after evaluating the demand on opening day.
Felicia Gans can be reached at felicia.gans@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @FeliciaGans.