From the blog
Starting A New York Dispensary — Part 1
December 1, 2021
Opening a dispensary in New York
With experts predicting New York's market to top $2.2 billion, your friends at GreenScreens want to support you with this playbook for opening your dispensary in the Big Apple.
New York joined the roster of states that have legalized recreational cannabis in March of 2021, although medical has been in play since 2014. This was a huge milestone, and the opportunity to become a retailer for this sleeping giant is quite attractive.
There are many critical components to opening a dispensary, and it can and will be overwhelming at times. You'll need to obtain a license, find a location, invest in staying compliant, banking, staff, and inventory — just to name a few. GreenScreens has you covered, and we'll break it down for you.
Brick and mortar
New York is one of the most densely populated regions in the world — the city that never sleeps and a hot commodity when it comes to real estate. While inventory is available, the financial blow is significant for renting space. Average commercial rental prices range from roughly $25 to $93 per square foot, and clearly come down to which borough you want to operate out of. Manhattan is on the high end at around $93/sq ft and is the most densely populated borough. Brooklyn runs about $50/sq ft, Queens around $41/sq ft, and Long Island is on the rise with low vacancy rates and growing demand.
Before you get too excited selecting your location based on price, keep in mind that most states allow individual counties and towns to choose whether or not they want to allow cannabis businesses in their area — and this applies to New York too. Counties that were restricting adult-use cannabis sales (subject to change) have included Columbia, Chemung, Nassau, Putnam, Suffolk, and possibly Cattaraugus and Oneida.
The cannabis industry is an ever-changing landscape. New regulations, adoptions, and reforms will always keep you guessing, but this gives you a great start to begin looking for the perfect location to open up shop.
See you next time when we dive deeper into New York's licensing and security.