On Sept. 27, the first Rhode Island location of CBD American Shaman opened its doors for business, offering samples of their various CBD products to passersby.
This general wellness franchise provides products to alleviate anxiety, aches and pains, according to Janice Schmidt and her husband Rob Schmidt, who co-manage the Thayer Street store.
The store offers a wide array of products derived from CBD hemp oil, including water-solubles, capsules, topicals and a variety of snack and beauty products. The store also sells tinctures, concentrated extracts of liquid CBD, or cannabidiol.
Unlike the psychoactive constituent THC, CBD is a non-psychogenic compound, said Robert Kaufmann, director of research for Shaman Botanicals, which is connected to CBD American Shaman. Although CBD is often conflated with THC, CBD American Shaman’s products do not generate highs, Rob Schmidt said.
“It really is more of a therapeutic beneficial product. And that’s really the emphasis here,” he added.
CBD American Shaman aims to serve a wide demographic of customers, according to Janice Schmidt. Its products are for everyone from “young professionals … that want something to relieve a little anxiety” to older individuals and athletes who have physical aches and pains, she said. The store also sells products specifically for pets.
“I think that CBD holds sort of this mystical allure for a lot of people,” said Cole Guillemin ’21. “So I’ve heard that people are excited about it.”
The franchise did not respond to request for comment about the word “shaman” in its name. A “shaman” often refers to a religious figure with healing abilities, associated with cultures ranging from northern Asia to indigenous peoples in the United States. Rob Schmidt of the Thayer location of CBD American Shaman said he couldn’t “speak to that name, because that was something that was developed by the franchise owners.”
To better understand the effect of their products on users, CBD American Shaman partnered with the market intelligence platform ValidCare this past March, according to Patrick C. McCarthy, ValidCare’s founder and chief executive officer. ValidCare works with companies to “study, educate, measure and document the results of CBD treatments,” according to Business Insider.
The franchise joins a list of new establishments coming to Thayer Street, including Rev’d Indoor Cycling and Ceremony Tea.
