CBD Shop 'Inner Peace' Opens In Avon

AVON, CT — A new CBD shop has opened in Avon, and its general manager describes it as a "holistic wellness store."

Called Inner Peace, the shop sells CBD products — like lip balms, muscle creams, and bath salts — as well as crystals and glass products. It's currently opening under a soft launch, with a grand opening planned for Saturday, June 11.

The shop is located at 5 East Main St., Avon.

All of Inner Peace's merchandise is organic, and much of it is made in Connecticut, General Manager Kyle Nye said. The products are designed for relaxation, pain reduction and stress relief, Nye said, and they can have several purposes.

For example, Jahzael Effend, who handles the shop's marketing, said he uses CBD products after lifting weights in the gym.

"It's nice to have that, like, relaxation feeling when you're getting ready to go to bed after doing, like, a night lift session," Effend told Patch. "It's, like, a healthy way to recover, essentially."

Nye described CBD products as "a better alternative than Advil (or) Tylenol," and said they can even be used for dogs — he himself gives them to his dog to help with separation anxiety.

"And I use CBD for anxiety, stress and insomnia," Nye told Patch.

Nye said many of the shop's patrons have been in the 30-60 age range. He helped one woman with pain in her knee buy a cream that can reduce that pain within 30 minutes, and told another customer that the store's products don't have any THC in them, so they won't give users a high.

The shop is owned by Matthew McTeague, who Effend described as a "small entrepreneur" who has run several business ventures, including a few cannabis stores and a marketing company.

McTeague hired Effend for a marketing job, who then referred Nye — who managed a smoke shop in New Britain for over two years — to the general manager position.

But Nye and Effend are quick to point out that Inner Peace isn't a "smoke shop" with marijuana and tobacco products. Rather, they said, it's a store designed to promote holistic health and wellness.

"Anything that would be bad for you that you would see in, like, a normal smoke shop, you're not gonna get here. You're not gonna get, like, addicting vapes," Effend said. "Here is about making your body feel good, you know, making your body feel better. Treating yourself to that kind of experience."

Inner Peace is currently open Mondays-Thursdays from 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m.-9 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m.