Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan Napoli.
Jonathan, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
First, I founded The Hempest in Boston in 1995. We have several stores and hempest.com carries the biggest selection of hemp gear on the planet.
In 2000 I moved to Dudley Square, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Boston, and always thought it would be a good neighborhood for Boston’s first grow/hydroponic store. I opened The Boston Gardener in 2009 for all urban gardeners, especially the ones that grow cannabis indoors. I gave “grow your own medicine” classes there in 2013 which attracted a lot of patients from the Greater Boston area.
Now we are in prime spring planting season and we carry all sorts of vegetables and flowers for people to plant in their urban gardens. We have the largest selection of organic soil and fertilizers in Boston.
Has it been a smooth road?
Dudley Square is a very poor neighborhood and our goal is to help improve the area by adding economic activity. We have to offer something that not only appeals to people in the immediate neighborhood, but also to people all over Boston.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
A lot of the hydroponic stores around the country would hide from the fact that their customers were primarily growing cannabis. We embraced that fact. We are proud that we have helped successfully change the cannabis laws for the better in Massachusetts. When I founded The Hempest in 1995 that was my goal.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Great city for this business. I’d recommend starting near the growers.
Contact Info:
- Address: The Boston Gardener
2131 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02119 - Website: www.boston-gardener.com
- Phone: 6176067065
- Email: bostongardener@gmail.com
- Facebook: facebook.com/bostongardeners
Image Credit:
The Boston Globe
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