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NYC's second legal, recreational weed dispensary set to open in Greenwich Village

By

Jake Offenhartz

Published Jan 23, 2023

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Smacked LLC owner Roland Conner alongside his 25-year-old son, Darius at the sprawling Bleecker Street shop on Monday.

 

Jake Offenhartz

By

Jake Offenhartz

Published Jan 23, 2023

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New York City’s second legal weed store – and the first owned by a person with a prior marijuana conviction – is ready to open its doors in Greenwich Village on Tuesday.

Beginning at 10 a.m., the sprawling Bleecker Street shop, called Smacked LLC, will offer an array of cannabis products, including flower, tinctures, edibles and weed-infused sparkling water. It joins Housing Works Cannabis Co. – just half a mile away – as one of two legal recreational dispensaries in a city already saturated with black market options.

The storefront, which will operate in a “pop-up” capacity for its first month before undergoing a full renovation, marks a long-awaited step in New York’s ambitious effort to prioritize social equity in an emerging billion-dollar marijuana industry.

Under a state policy announced earlier this year by Gov. Kathy Hochul, the state has promised to award its first 150 retail licenses to individuals with marijuana-related criminal convictions who can prove they’ve run a profitable business for two years. (Nonprofit-run shops like Housing Works are on a separate track).

Smacked owner Roland Conner, a property manager and New Jersey resident, qualified under previous arrests, which he declined to detail on Monday. He said he plans to run the site alongside his 25-year-old son, Darius, who was also involved in the pre-legalization – or “legacy” – weed-selling business.

The shelves are ready for Smacked LLC's big opening on Bleecker Street.

Jake Offenhartz

“I came from legacy and my son was in legacy, and I didn’t want my son to get in trouble and go down the same path I went on, so we went down this journey and said let’s find out how we can do this in a legal way,” the elder Conner told Gothamist on Monday. “We didn’t know all this would come with it.”

The process of securing a legal weed license has involved mountains of paperwork, as well as assistance from a wide-range of state agencies and private interests. The state’s Dormitory Authority is overseeing a public-private effort to raise $200 million to help finance the storefronts, though the fund has reportedly struggled to raise money.

At a preview event on Monday, Dormitory Authority President Reuben McDaniel III declined to share figures on the status of the fundraising – saying only that the state is having “significant conversations with significant investors.”

So far, the state’s Office of Cannabis Management has issued 28 licenses to other applicants with marijuana convictions, who will work with the Dormitory Authority to secure funding for their locations.

Chris Alexander, the executive director of Office of Cannabis Management, acknowledged the process could feel pain-staking at times.

"The priority designation is something we take seriously," he said. "The easier thing might have been to hand over the initial business operations to those who were more well capitalized, those who were more well suited to operate, but we decided to take that long route."

"We know that nothing in New York is fast enough," he added.

Tagged

new york city

economy

manhattan

Jake Offenhartz

Jake Offenhartz is a former Gothamist reporter.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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