Verano Opens 3rd Connecticut Social Equity Joint Venture Dispensary

• Situated in Naugatuck, a borough south of Connecticut’s capital with more than 31,000 residents, Zen Leaf Naugatuck is the third of six planned social equity joint venture dispensaries the company expects to open across the state, with 20 new team members hired locally.
• Zen Leaf Naugatuck serves both medical patients and adult-use customers, joining Verano’s existing vertical Connecticut operations that include Zen Leaf dispensaries in Meriden, Newington, Norwich and Waterbury; and CTPharma, a state-of-the-art, 217,000-square-foot cultivation and processing facility in Rocky Hill.
• The dispensary is located at 585 South Main St., a thoroughfare with an average daily traffic count of 14,900 vehicles.
• Verano’s active operations span 13 states, comprised of 139 dispensaries and 14 cultivation and processing facilities with more than 1 million square feet of cultivation capacity.

CHICAGO, May 2, 2024 – PRESS RELEASE – Verano Holdings Corp., a leading multistate cannabis company, announced the grand opening of Zen Leaf Naugatuck, the company’s third social equity joint venture location in Connecticut and fifth cannabis dispensary statewide. Zen Leaf Naugatuck will host a grand opening on May 3, featuring a ceremonial ribbon cutting  at 11 a.m. with the Waterbury Area Chamber of Commerce. Located at 585 South Main St., Zen Leaf Naugatuck will be open 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sunday.

In opening Zen Leaf Naugatuck, Verano received support for the company’s approved social equity plan from several local community organizations, including the Brass City Gamers Tournament, Rivera Memorial Foundation, The UnGroup Society and the Waterbury Opportunities Industrialization Center Inc. Through these community partnerships, Zen Leaf will directly fund area youth education initiatives, including:

• LifeLaunch Waterbury: an innovative 12-week e-learning curriculum for teens and young adults in Waterbury that teaches a broad range of life skills and financial literacy.
• STEM Training and Laptop Donations: in partnership with Waterbury-based Brass City Gamers, Zen Leaf will sponsor an eight-week STEM certified course and provide the first 10 graduates of the program with new Acer coding laptops, enabling local youth to continue pursuing STEM education goals.

“We’re thrilled to open Zen Leaf Naugatuck as we strengthen our roots and deepen our commitment to supporting local communities and the equitable growth of the cannabis industry across Connecticut,” Verano founder and CEO George Archos said. “We’re grateful to deliver local contributions in the form of job creation, economic development, and social equity partnerships to drive positive change and counter failed anti-cannabis policies that have adversely affected countless communities across Connecticut, and the nation, for decades. Opening Zen Leaf Naugatuck marks the culmination of collaborative efforts with many stakeholders, and I’d like to thank state officials, our team members, customers, patients and local social equity partners for their support in bringing Zen Leaf to the Naugatuck community.”

Zen Leaf provides a variety of convenient ordering options—including online pre-orders, in-store kiosk and walk-up counter ordering—and also offers a number of exciting promotions across all Connecticut locations, including a daily 22% off discount for Veterans, 20% “Medical Monday” discounts for medical patients, and 25% off first orders after downloading the Zen Leaf mobile app.

Verano’s expanding vertical operations in Connecticut encompass CTPharma, a state-of-the-art, 217,000-square-foot cultivation and processing facility in Rocky Hill that produces a variety of Connecticut’s most popular cannabis products, and Zen Leaf dispensaries in Meriden (hybrid), Newington (hybrid), Norwich (hybrid) and Waterbury (presently medical-only). Including Zen Leaf Naugatuck, Zen Leaf Newington and Zen Leaf Norwich, the company plans to open a total of six equity joint venture dispensaries across Connecticut with social equity partners, subject to obtaining all customary approvals, which would raise Verano’s total retail footprint to eight stores statewide.