BUILT TO GIVE BACK | Stem has been contributing to local charities since opening its doors in 2020, something CEO Caroline Pineau carried over from her time running a yoga studio.
Among her many successes, Stem CEO Caroline Pineau gained acclaim among her peers in Massachusetts for standing up against illegally inflated community impact fees and sparking a larger discussion around the unjustified fees put on operators by their local governments.
“We were the first in the state to pursue those (impact fees) and say, ‘This is not equitable. This is wrong. This is extortion. Please stop,’” Pineau says. “And when they didn’t stop, we sued them.”
The city of Haverhill settled with Stem, agreeing to return 70% of the disputed impact fees back to the company, a settlement worth more than $600,000.
Pineau’s success is certainly not limited to the courtroom, as the company has amassed a loyal, local following while also contributing more than $250,000 to local charities since the shop opened in 2020.
“Charity work has been a part of the business since day one and something that preceded the business, because I did charitable work with my yoga studio for years,” Pineau says. “I was able to continue relationships with a lot of the nonprofits once I stepped into the cannabis space.”
Pineau and her husband are also in the process of building a consumption lounge in the same building as their retail store in downtown Haverhill.
“What that looks like is to be determined,” Pineau says. “But we’ve got our eyes on the prize and have started our efforts to renovate the space.”
In addition to continuing past relationships with nonprofits, Stem has forged several new ones with organizations such as the women’s empowerment organization YWCA, the local food bank Somebody Cares New England, and Patriots Helping Vets, which provides horticultural therapy for veterans.
An additional claim to fame for Pineau is being a leading instigator of golf addiction among women in Massachusetts cannabis through the company’s Green Goddess Invitational.
“The LPGA has been involved since the beginning,” Pineau says, pointing specifically to the support of Cathy MacPherson, who is recognized nationally as one of the best golf instructors in the country. “It’s kind of like a golf camp for women.”
Pineau says MacPherson’s involvement has attracted a state full of golfers that now regularly compete in the event.
“I can’t even tell you the number of women who have come up to us, and they’re like, ‘Hey, thank you, because now we’re unusually into golf.’ And they’re the people you would never think would be into golf and now they’re very good.”