Construction kicks off on Norwalk's only drive-thru Cannabis dispensary; to be done by end of 2024
The Shangri-La drive-thru will open at 75 Connecticut Ave.
Excavators are at work at Shangri-La’s incoming drive-thru dispensary site at 75 Connecticut Ave., leading up to an opening expected at the end of the year, according to company representatives.
PAC Group, a Torrington-based contractor, broke ground on the site the same day Shangri-La ceremonially opened Norwalk’s second dispensary last month, according to Nevil Patel, CEO, and Kepal Patel, president.
The CEO said the project is on-schedule for completion in the next five-and-a-half to six months, which would land completion squarely in December.
“Our goal would be to open within a month from the date of receiving (a) certificate of occupancy,” Nevil Patel said.
Fine Fettle, Norwalk’s first dispensary at 131 Main St. and Shangri-La’s local competition, earned its certificate of occupancy roughly a week before opening.
Shangri-La’s first location at 430 Main Ave. opened just ahead of 4/20 in April — a day largely celebrated by cannabis consumers — four months after the CEO initially anticipated the retail location would open.
Its opening was held up by construction delays and approvals of social equity and workforce development plans, the Patel brothers said.
“This time, we are going well ahead of time to prep those (plans),” Nevil Patel said. “We already have experience with one location, so it will be a much easier process when it comes to that.”
The Connecticut Avenue ceremonially groundbreaking earlier this month marked the beginning of construction with a ribbon-cutting.
The drive-thru location will likely serve different clientele than the company’s Main Avenue location, the company officials said.
“Ultimately, people (will choose) to visit one or the other based on their daily routine,” Kepal Patel said of the locations that are about 3 miles apart.
Kepal Patel said the drive-thru location can better serve customers with mobility issues.
The brothers acknowledge that customers will also have to choose between the Shangri-La locations and Fine Fettle, which opened about a month sooner as the city’s first dispensary.
But with two retail locations in Norwalk in addition to the Fine Fettle dispensary, Shangri-La has maxed out the number of allowable dispensaries in the city per zoning regulations — giving Shangri-La control of two-thirds of the city's legal cannabis market.
Shangri-La’s first dispensary marked the beginning of an aggressive entrance in Connecticut, the only Northeast state in which the company retails cannabis.
The company’s pipeline will flesh out its presence in Connecticut with the second Norwalk dispensary; a Stratford cultivation site that the Patels said is slated to open in the the first three months of 2025; dispensaries planned in East Hartford, Plainville and Waterbury.
Shangri-La also looks to open a sixth retail store in the state, Nevil Patel said, though there isn’t yet a set location. The company also operates cannabis businesses in Illinois, Missouri, and Ohio.
