The founders of HoneyGrove, a medical dispensary in Gloucester Township, entered the cannabis industry for a variety of reasons. David Del Vecchio — a physical therapist and one of HoneyGrove's owners — felt a dispensary could help meet community members' health needs.
"I saw a lot of people go down the route of opioids and painkillers," Del Vecchio told Patch. " ... I got into the cannabis world because of that originally."
HoneyGrove, which opened Aug. 9, will celebrate its grand opening this Friday. (See event info below.)
While larger corporations own many of New Jersey's dispensaries, HoneyGrove is independently run. The ownership includes David, Valerie Del Vecchio (majority owner), and Derek and Cara Damiano.
They originally applied around 2018 to open the business, when New Jersey only allowed cannabis for certain medical uses. David Del Vecchio felt connected to the Gloucester Township area through physical therapy, which he's performed in Sicklerville for the last decade. David wanted a sense of locality to carry over into the dispensary.