Ever since New York began handing out adult-use retail licenses earlier this year, marijuana dispensaries have been popping up all over the state. From the very first retail dispensary opening in Manhattan to others following suit shortly after, New York has been abuzz with cannabis activity.
The first adult-use dispensary to be issued a license in Rockland County, NY is slated to open its doors by the end of April. Treehouse Cannabis was originally granted a license to operate by delivery only, which it has been doing since late January. Now, it was just granted a storefront license which will allow them to sell cannabis in person.
Benefiting From Prior Marijuana-Related Legal Charges
“When they first started announcing they would be issuing adult-use licenses, they made it a point to emphasize that they were encouraging those with prior convictions to apply. And I believe it was only a matter of a few months of waiting before being given one of the first priorities out of all the licenses,” says Austin Staulcup, marketing manager at Treehouse Cannabis. “We are one of the first to be given licenses anywhere remotely in this area, and our owner was lucky to get in the first wave of those licenses.”
Treehouse Cannabis owner Seth Marks has had an arduous journey to achieving this standing with the New York State Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), including overcoming his previous incarceration due to cannabis-related charges. Because of this, he was able to benefit greatly from the OCM’s license prioritization towards those previously convicted for marijuana charges, according to Staulcup.
“In the mid-90’s, he was arrested for marijuana conviction and distribution,” explains Staulcup. “When he was released, he founded a car business and has operated that up until today. But once this dispensary opportunity arose, he dove into this market and is now in the process of converting his car shop into the physical dispensary.”
Treehouse Cannabis Takes Over the Car Shop
Staulcup says the process of converting the old car shop into an adult-use dispensary has been very busy and time-consuming. From conceiving the ideas to designing everything to actually implementing it all into the shop, there’s so much that goes into building a storefront.
“It’s been an interesting process because they were granted a delivery-only license at first, and then of course there were extra steps needed to apply for the storefront license, but that just came as of last month and then Seth jumped on it as soon as he could,” Staulcup explains.
Since being granted the storefront license, Marks has been tearing up the old car shop floors, renovating the outside and getting everything done in order to fully convert it into a dispensary. “He was very quick to hop on the construction movement, and now he aims to be done by the end of April. It’s coming along very well, so far,” says Staulcup.
Exciting Things Ahead for the Dispensary
Everyone is very excited about the physical dispensary’s opening, especially since it will be the only one up and running in Rockland County. If in-store sales are anything like the delivery sales have been, profits will be plenty.
“Delivery sales have been amazing,” says Staulcup. “We run many deliveries on a daily basis all across the Rockland area. From the time we open at noon to the time we close at 8, people in the area are very much utilizing our delivery service.”
The physical dispensary will greatly benefit all of the consumers who are not located within the delivery area. Even current delivery customers have been expressing how excited they are about the new storefront, according to Staulcup. “They’re excited more so for the experience, since this will be the first dispensary to open in the county. Just being able to go into the shop, browse around and make the most out of the experience is what they are looking forward to,” he says.
Treehouse Cannabis has a big grand opening in the works. Staulcup says they’re planning on making a big event out of it.
“We intend on having music, food, different vendors ― we really want to make it a big event to highlight how much we’re bringing to the community. We want everyone involved in the re-opening and it’s something that everyone has been looking forward to for a while,” Staulcup says.
