Legal marijuana industry is taking root in Riverhead
New York State legalized recreational marijuana in 2021, but it has taken several years for the cannabis industry to take root on Long Island. When Strain Stars, the island’s first recreational marijuana dispensary, opened in Farmingdale in July 2023, there were fewer than 20 legal cannabis stores statewide. Riverhead’s first retail dispensary, Beleaf, opened in Calverton in November, and the following month Strain Stars opened the largest retail shop in the state on Old Country Road in Riverhead.
Strain Stars’ Riverhead manager Narita Kaur, CEO Yuvraj Singh’s cousin, said business has been booming since day one.
“We knew that cannabis is a growing industry, and we expected insane numbers, but it was still beyond our belief,” Mr. Kaur said of the early sales. “The amount of people that we saw from opening day to now has just continued to grow.”
In 2024, Long Island’s eight cannabis retailers generated $109,352,654 in total revenue and $20,777,004 in sales tax, according to the state Office of Marijuana Management. As of November 2024, Long Island accounted for 11% of retail sales statewide, despite being home to only 3% of New York’s dispensaries.
The 2021 law legalizing recreational cannabis sales requires that the municipality where a dispensary is located receives 4% of the taxes collected — with 3% going to the town and 1% to Suffolk County. In 2024, Babylon netted $2.6 million in cannabis taxes, while the county brought in $871,000, for a total of nearly $3.5 million in revenue. Those figures are expected to grow as more dispensaries open.
“There are so many towns across Long Island piercing their tax caps,” said Gahrey Ovalle, president of the Long Island Cannabis Coalition, a nonprofit industry trade group. “They have the ability to collect cannabis tax revenue without raising taxes. This surplus tax revenue can accommodate and alleviate” local budgets, he said.
“The towns themselves and the supervisors and elected officials are recognizing that this cannabis industry is a lot more profitable than what they thought” Mr. Ovalle said.”
He also noted the region’s cannabis dispensaries have not sparked any of problems envisioned by opponents.
“There are almost zero issues and zero complaints in Babylon with nuisance, crime. In Riverhead, there were two complaints, and it was about the signs that are on the stores, not the stores themselves,” Mr. Ovalle said. “No issues, no traffic, no crime, no selling to children.”
For years, one of the biggest challenges to state-sanctioned cannabis dispensaries has been that no banks would do business with them because marijuana is still illegal at the federal level. That left dispensaries with loads of cash on hand, which made them robbery targets. Solving for that has paved the way for strong growth in the young industry.
“None of the large banks that work across multiple states and at the federal level are offering any kind of cannabis accounts,” Mr. Ovalle said, “but there are a lot of state-run banks and local banks that absolutely do. We have quite a few here on Long Island.”
Beyond tax revenue, legalized weed has also introduced a new profession into the area economy: budtenders.
Strain Stars staffer Nicholas Cordova said he wants to make a career out of marijuana and has devoted the last four years of his life exclusively to educating himself about the wild world of weed.
“It’s all up here,” Mr. Cordova said, tapping his head. “It’s the knowledge that you gain throughout your travels. I used to go to Freedom Rally festivals [in Boston], harvest festivals, and people would show off all their cannabis, and you would educate one another, because it’s an industry that was untapped.”
With hundreds and hundreds of different cannabis products, he said, there’s a universe of options to choose from, and a good budtender can guide a new customer to their best bet.
“We’re here to sell feelings,” Mr. Cordova explained. “We’re here to sell emotion. I like selling cannabis by asking, ‘What are you trying to do?’ We try and set the mood here [at the counter]. ‘We’re trying to go out with the boys’ or ‘We’re trying to watch the game.’ ‘We’re just hanging out. We’re just home on the couch.’ ”
Mr. Cordova said he showed up for his job interview with Strain Stars with a notebook full of ideas, and was quickly hired. His birthday is April 20, or “420,” an internationally recognized reference to marijuana that some say originated with The Waldos, a group of early 1970s potheads at a high school in San Rafael, Calif. (Contrary to popular belief, 420 is not a police code for marijuana, nor is it the number of chemical compounds in cannabis or the day Bob Marley died.)
The East End’s other state-sanctioned retail dispensary, Beleaf (4462 Middle Country Road, Calverton) opened last fall with a focus on customer service. Its Budtenders guide shoppers through a wide variety of options, including tinctures, vape cartridges, edibles and pre-rolled joints as well cannabis-infused drinks such as seltzers and even cold-brewed coffee. The shop also carries cannabis-infused teas by Harney Brothers of Millerton, N.Y. Each flavor has a different recommended application, including ones for sleep and focus.
“Whenever someone walks in the door, they’re going to be greeted, and then one of the budtenders will come out and speak to them,” said Beleaf co-owner Mike Reda. “You know, not everybody wants or needs help. That’s why once someone’s familiar with the store, we do have the express kiosk [for self-service]. If someone wants to come in and order real quick and then just proceed to the counter, they have that option. But if someone’s looking for a more educational experience or recommendations, that’s what the budtender is for.”
Strain Stars opened its Riverhead location in December at 1871 Old Country Road and offers 1,200 distinct products ranging from flower and pre-rolled joints to edibles and beverages.
“We saw how things progressed in Farmingdale, at our first store, and we were prepared, excited and a little bit anxious to do this big project,” Mr. Singh said. “Now that it’s finally here and done, we’re very excited and hope for the best.”
The new location, at the corner of Kroemer Avenue and Route 58, sat empty for a number of years as properties around it were developed. Despite logistical challenges, Strain Stars was able to finish construction and open for business relatively quickly.
“There were a lot of negotiations here and there,” Singh said. “But this property was vacant for almost 20 years, and we were just fortunate enough to be able to lock it down, kind of in the right place at the right time.”
As the initial growing pains subside, and the tax benefits start hitting public coffers, Mr. Ovalle expects a lot more legal dispensaries to come on line in the region over the next few years. Local governments “are starting to become more open, at least conceptually,” he said, noting that the whole industry is “starting to normalize. We’re being treated like a regular business — just like a construction company or a pizza shop.”
