NYC's first weed shop opens for thousands at grand opening

Apr 27, 2023

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It's high time.

Sales at the state's first legal marijuana shop were on a roll Thursday after Housing Works in Noho opened its doors at a quintessential pothead hour — 4:20 p.m.

Hundreds of stoners snapped up everything from pre-rolled joints to potent edibles at the shop's grand opening at 750 Broadway, straddling Greenwich Village and NoHo, where some folks sparked celebratory blunts in line outside.

"I’m here to be part of history," said Ken Woodin, 33, a stay-at-home dad from Brooklyn, who was puffing pot dubbed Green Crack from a pipe despite signs warning customers not to smoke on site.

While it's less expensive to buy weed from his dealer — $20 on the street compared with $55 for an eighth of an ounce at the new outlet — he said state-regulated marijuana is healthier and higher-end.

"It's a better high and it's cleaner, with less pesticides," said Woodin. "It's the difference between having something coated in chemicals go in your lungs versus something that doesn't."

Not everyone was giddy.

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As a line of 200 people snaked around the block, a protester shouted, "Richest country in the world and all you people can do is smoke marijuana?!" — to which one buyer fired back: "She needs an edible!"

Inside the minimalist-style shop, workers showcased gummies ($30), fruit-flavored vapes ($95) and good old-fashioned buds in cookie jar-like containers ($55 for 3.5 grams).

Other ganja goodies up for grabs included 1 gram joints for $18 or a five-pack for $44.David Sipness, 75, of Brooklyn Heights bought raspberry-flavored Florist Farms Golden Raspberry gummies at the powerful dose of 100 mg to help him sleep, he said. He also took home some loose-leaf buds for $105 plus tax.

"This is capitalism at its best," he grinned. "I’ve been using cannabis since the ‘60s. I’m a fan."

Another Brooklyn buyer, Christon Harrypersad, 36, from Ocean Hill said he planned to take his haul home to bake marijuana-infused treats.

"I view it more of a herb. I use it like oregano. Everything I make I add cannabis — pizza, pasta, I just made some jerk sauce, some garlic sauce," he said.

The munchies lover said he's been buzzing with anticipation for an "organic" THC-based ingredient for months.

The opening comes nearly two years after the law legalizing cannabis in the state was approved by the legislature and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in March 2021.

In the meantime, a gray market of illegal weed shops have sprouted up in the Big Apple, irking some neighbors and threatening the viability of legitimate shops.

James Lissak, 22, a self-professed pothead student from Manhattan's Upper East Side, said he hoped New York's green gold rush will help end the stigma around marijuana.

"It will help put a stop to the illicit trade selling pounds and pounds of marijuana daily," he said.

But he added, "I probably won't shop here regularly. It's hard to beat the prices at the [illegal] bodegas, where you’re getting top-of-the-line $20 eighths."

Noah Selling, 40, of Crown Heights came to buy dabs — a highly concentrated form of hash oil — to cope with multiple sclerosis.

"It alleviates a lot of pain. It does a better job than the opiates prescribed to me for years — mainly Oxy," he said, referring to the pain reliever oxycodone. "It relaxes my muscles way more than the muscle relaxants big pharma loves to prescribe."

Earlier in the day, Charles King, CEO of the non-profit that runs the shop, said weed sales opening day would likely be smoking hot.

"It's a perfect location," King declared at a press conference Thursday morning, adding 2,000 people had already RSVP’d. "NYU and tourists can come by here easily. We think we’ll ring up a lot of sales."

Chris Alexander, the first-ever executive director of the New York State Office of Cannabis Management, was the shop's first customer, taking home a haul of edibles that would make Snoop Dog salivate.

He bought a 10-pack of 10-milligram sour watermelon-flavored gummies and a jar of cannabis flower, dubbed Banana Runtz, both grown in New York by Florist Farms in the upstate town of Cortland.

Alexander said he expects more cannabis dispensaries from the state's 36 license-holders will open in "the next couple of weeks."

He then sniffed his pot and recoiled from its pungent odor, saying "ooh!"

In total, six brands and 100 pot products hit the shelves Thursday, King said.

"I have been asked if we have enough," he said. "Be assured we have plenty of supply to get you through the weekend."

But he urged the store's first crop of customers to bring cash to buy the green.

Credit cards are overseen by the buzz-killing federal government, he said, which has not yet legalized weed.

"And I don't care how old you are, bring your ID because we have to card every single person who walks in the store," he added.

Inside the shop, signs warned "consuming cannabis is not allowed on this premises" and "cannabis can impair concentration, coordination and judgment."

Also up for grabs were pastel-colored pipes, weed grinders and tote bags declaring, "Make love not drug war."