Ethos Cannabis opened on Clapp Street 18 months ago as a medical marijuana dispensary, where clients must have a card obtained from a doctor and where they pay a lower rate. Today Ethos is one of several such dispensaries in Dorchester. Pure Oasis opened on Blue Hill Avenue in 2020 as the city’s first-ever marijuana retail store.

On Thursday this week, Ethos began offering recreational marijuana for sale as well. For the grand opening as a recreational pot shop, the store planned on bringing in a live DJ and food trucks, with complementary eats for customers.

Blandine Jean-Paul, vice president of marketing for Ethos Cannabis, said the neighborhood is “underserved” and she sees her company as positioned to take advantage of increased foot traffic by also serving recreational marijuana.

She notes that the South Bay shopping plaza is around the corner from her, and the Clapp Street store is down the street from Dorchester Brewing.

Ethos is a multi-state cannabis company with 300 employees. There are nine stores in Pennsylvania, three in Massachusetts, one in Ohio, and three in Maryland.

Aside from Dorchester, Ethos’s other locations here are in Watertown and Fitchburg. Watertown has 26 full-time employees. The Dorchester store, which is open seven days a week, currently has five to six employees, but has plans to increase it to similar levels to Watertown. “We do see things are ramping up,” said Jean-Paul. “We are slowly building our staff.”

Jean-Paul grew up in Mattapan and recently moved to Braintree. While she oversees marketing for all of the company’s 16 dispensaries, she is personally handling the Dorchester store, since it’s “near and dear,” and close to home. 

“I believe Dorchester is going to be one of our top grossing locations because the community is underserved,” she said.