


High times, indeed.
New York’s first licensed marijuana retail store had smokin’ hot sales in its opening six months in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village — peddling $12 million in ganja goodies, or twice what it expected, its owner said Monday.
Housing Works Cannabis Co. — which serves New Yorkers with HIV/AIDS and helps the homeless and drug and smoking addicts — opened the pot shop Dec. 29 at 750 Broadway to much fanfare.
“From the resources we’ve rolled out to the brands we carefully select for our customers, everything we do here has a greater purpose, and we’re humbled to see the support our mission is receiving,” said Sasha Nutgent, retail manager at Housing Works Cannabis Co.
A cannabis industry insider said the whopping sales figure was impressive.
“That’s a very good number, an excellent sales number,” said Osbert Orduna, a co-founder of Disabled Veterans in Cannabis Association who runs the The Cannabis Place delivery service based in Queens.
As part of its mission, Housing Works said it directed millions in cannabis proceeds toward New Yorkers needing healthcare, housing, job training and substance abuse reduction, as well as LGBTQ youths.
The group said the store gets as many as 1,000 unique visitors on busy days.
Housing Works said flowered weed is the top-selling product, particularly sativa-leaning hybrid strains.
It said its sales team also found that customers buy edible cannabis products that promote sleep and reduce anxiety.
“One unforeseen challenge and a pain point for both retailers and customers has been product rollout,” Nutgent said. “There have been major improvements with the state’s product testing timeline, for example, but the feedback we still hear from some black-owned brands is that there is not enough funding to get their products into the market.”
Last month, Housing Works introduced its first black-owned brand, Brelixi. Other social equity brands include Fat Nell (women-led), The Weekenders (people of color owned), as well as Flamer and Drew Martin (“queer-owned”).
New York legalized the use of recreational marijuana in 2021 — a move then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo hailed as “essential” to the state’s economic well-being.
Surveys show an estimated 2.7 million New Yorkers consume marijuana at least once a month — a huge market.
But the state’s legal cannabis program has suffered from an excruciatingly slow rollout and growing pains, according to businesses.
There are currently 21 state licensed cannabis sellers in the state, nine of which are in New York City.
Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Adams claims there are an estimated 1,500 unlicensed pot shops operating in the Big Apple, though the state has ramped up enforcement against them after Gov. Kathy Hochul and the legislature approved a new law that stiffened penalties against illegal peddlers.
Hochul on Monday announced authorities had shut down the first illegal weed stores under the new law — seven in all upstate — and that the operater potentially faces millions of dollars in fines.