In a small shopping center just off Interstate 93 in Medford, Massachusetts, about a 10 minute highway drive from downtown Boston, there’s a liquor store that sells hemp-derived delta-9 THC drinks. A sign o’ the times for sure, but not as much as what you’ll find just around the corner in the same parking lot. There, in a large building that was once part of a car dealership, an even bolder experiment is taking place: the Hi-5 Beverage Dispensary, a first-in-the-nation venture in the burgeoning cannabev industry that kicked off last week. The concept is as brave as it is simple: inside a separate, standalone location that shares a wall (but no door) with a full-service recreational cannabis (21+) dispensary, multi-state operator Theory Wellness has created a beverage-exclusive store: walk in and you’ll find industrial-size glass door refrigerators stocked (to start) with cold cans of low-dose infused drinks from Cann, Good Feels and its in-house brand, Hi-5. Unlike a modern dispensary, in which broad product variety is highly valued, Hi-5’s store aims to serve drink fans directly, with a corner store-type experience built around convenience and value: individual units are priced at around $2 and 4-packs at around $6 to $7, or about the cost of a single can in many dispensaries. Agreeing to hit that lower price -- and take away another potential barrier to entry for curious consumers -- is an essential piece of getting new brands on board, said Theory’s chief marketing officer Thomas Winstanley, as the company looks to defend its claim of guaranteeing the best prices and selection in the state. “We wanted to keep it really streamlined, because I think the beverage users who are coming to buy beverages, they know what they want. And if we can create an experience where we're showing all the product on these big floor-to-ceiling coolers on the back wall, they're going to be able to visually see exactly what's there.” And that takes us back to the liquor store around the corner, which is now direct competition for Hi-5. If customers can pick up THC-infused drinks alongside their other beverage buys -- and if enough of them aren’t deterred by price -- then why should they make an extra stop at Hi-5? On the other hand, as adoption spreads, shouldn’t the new dispensary’s selection, price structure and capacity of inventory appeal to that audience as they embrace the category? At this point, Winstanley noted, the store is a “jumping off point” for a bigger conversation around the future of THC drinks. If nothing else, the company is sure to emerge from the experience with a deep and growing knowledge of the complex and potentially massive category. “What we really want to do is to just give everybody the opportunity to try,” he said. “I love the Steve Jobs quote: ‘give the people what they want, but introduce them to things they didn't know they needed.’” Stay tuned to BevNET for more on Hi-5’s ambitious new concept | 
