City and state officials continue cracking down on illegal smoke shops

Top 2 photos by Stacie Joy; others by EVG

Law enforcement officials returned to two East Village shops to slap them with restraining orders to prohibit them from selling unlicensed cannabis.

A restraining order now hangs on the storefront at Saint Marks Convenience & Smoke Shop, 103 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue. The retaining order notes that the "unlicensed sale of cannabis" is prohibited...

The shop remains in business, selling smoking accessories and exotic flavors of snacks.

Similar legal notices are affixed to the front of Runtz at 14 First Ave. between First Street and Second Street...

Here, though, there's a "partially closed" sign ... access is permitted to tenants, the landlord, employees, contractors, etc., "only for inspections, repairs, modifications, removal of personal property" ...

The shop appears to be permanently shuttered. (And it had been challenging for Runtz. Armed robbers reportedly took them for $5,400 shortly after opening this past August.)

Both businesses were the target of a multi-agency sweep on Feb. 9, a show of force after Mayor Adams and Manhattan DA Bragg announced that they had joined forces, cracking down on illegal storefront operations by targeting the landlords. 

In other cannabis-related news, the storefront for the cannabis lifestyle brand CannaCulture NYC has been closed for the past month at 118 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue. Someone covered the windows and painted over the façade at the shop, which opened last July...

Last Thursday, the Cannabis Control Board doubled the number of social equity licenses but didn't have an update on a timeline for opening up the broader licensing process for general retail outlets, Gothamist reported. 

Per Gothamist: "It could be several months before general business owners who don't qualify for a CAURD license get a chance to set up shop in the new legal cannabis market."

The vacant storefront on this corner of 10th and 1st will be...

Photo by Dan Scheffey

In recent weeks, workers have been gut-renovating the vacant storefront on the SE corner of First Avenue and 10th Street.

And now, as if anyone will be surprised, it turns out that the new business will be a cannabis/CBD shop, another in the many that have popped up in the past year... and that is not legal.

Last week, Mayor Adams and DA Bragg started cracking down on illegal storefront operations by targeting the landlords. 

The city's third legal cannabis shop — aka Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary — opened on Monday at 62 E. 13th St. just west of Broadway. 

The previous tenant on this corner, the E. 10th St. Finest Deli, closed in December 2020. 

H/T Steven and Steven Walker, who also shared photos from this corner

Openings: Union Square Travel Agency: A Cannabis Store

The city's third legal cannabis shop — aka Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary — opens today (Feb. 13) at noon at 62 E. 13th St. just west of Broadway. 

The dispensary will be known as Union Square Travel Agency: A Cannabis Store. 

According to the press materials, the Doe Fund owns the dispensary, "a nonprofit that has served justice-involved individuals previously criminalized by cannabis prohibition." (Read more about the Doe Fund here.)

Initial operating hours (after today) will be 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday-Thursday, with an 11 p.m. close Friday and Saturday.

The Housing Works Cannabis Co. store — New York's first legal recreational marijuana market — opened to great fanfare in late December on Broadway at Eighth Street in a former Gap retail space. The second space debuted on Bleecker Street on Jan. 24. Another legal dispensary is expected to open on Third Street near the Bowery this spring.

Meanwhile, Mayor Adams and DA Bragg are cracking down on illegal storefront operations by targeting the landlords. 

City's fight against unlicensed cannabis shops now targets landlords; 4 East Village shops busted

Photos Tuesday by Stacie Joy 

On Tuesday, Mayor Adams and Manhattan DA Bragg announced that they have joined forces to combat the proliferation of illegal, unlicensed cannabis dispensaries in the city.

For starters, the NYPD filed complaints against four unlicensed establishments selling cannabis in the jurisdiction of the 9th Precinct, which covers the East Village. 

Per a media advisory from the city: 

The complaints allege that an officer observed the sale of cannabis products at these establishments to underage individuals and sought to shut them down for the illegal sale of cannabis products and operating without a license. 

Additionally, the Manhattan DA's office mailed letters to each of the more than 400 known smoke shops in Manhattan, warning them of the potential for eviction proceedings for unlawful cannabis sales. 

The NYPD's lawsuits allege that officers observed the sale of cannabis to underage auxiliary officers at these four establishments in Manhattan: Runtz Tobacco, 14 First Ave; Broadway, 736 Broadway; Saint Marks Convenience & Smoke Shop, 103 Saint Mark's Place; and Sogie Mart Rolls & Puff, 24 Avenue A. 

The NYPD now seeks to shut down these unlicensed establishments under New York City's Nuisance Abatement Law for the unlicensed sale of cannabis, also a violation of New York State's Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act. 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy was present at Saint Marks Convenience & Smoke Shop between Avenue A and First Avenue when a contingent of law enforcement officers from the 9th Precinct, the Sheriff's Interagency Enforcement Task Force, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, and the state Office of Cannabis Management paid a visit.

Law enforcement officials carried out bags full of confiscated merchandise and left copies of the lawsuit behind. Despite the action, a few of the shops opened later that day. 

New York City Sheriff Anthony Miranda told a City Council hearing last month "that this tactic was unlikely to lead to stores being shut down right away," as Gothamist reported. "Nuisance abatement takes a little while because the person has to have due process," Miranda said at that hearing.

The letter to the smoke shops from Bragg informs commercial entities that the DA's office "is prepared to use its civil authority under Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law to require owners and landlords to commence eviction proceedings of commercial tenants who are engaged in illegal trade or business, and to take over such eviction proceedings if necessary." (Find a copy of the letters here.) 

The Real Deal identified the landlords behind the four East Village shops that were busted on Tuesday: 103 Saint Marks Place and 736 Broadway are owned by Bahram Hakakian's Allied Realty & Development, 24 Avenue A is owned by a limited liability company linked to Alfred Sabetfard of Sabet Group, and Runtz Tobacco at 14 First Ave. Per TRD: Jeong Hoon Kim and Son Dinh Tran are linked to LLCs that own two of the properties. 

There are an estimated 50 illegal shops in the East Village; 1.400 in the five boroughs.

Bragg said that his office will determine where evidence exists of unauthorized cannabis sales and other illegal activity and will notify landlords of their requirement to begin eviction proceedings.

If the landlord does not make an application to evict within five days of the written notice — or if, after making the application, the landlord does not "in good faith diligently prosecute it" — then the DA's Office will bring its own proceeding against the tenant as though it were the landlord.

The Housing Works Cannabis Co. store — New York's first legal recreational marijuana market — opened to great fanfare and long lines in late December on Broadway at Eighth Street in a former Gap retail space. Another legal dispensary is expected to open on Third Street near the Bowery this spring.

Another day, another cannabis operation arrives

Signage is now up for a Recreational Cannabis Dispensary on the SE corner of First Avenue and 11th Street. (Thanks to Lola Sáenz and Steven for sending photos yesterday.) 

While the shop isn't open just yet, it's the latest weed-friendly storefront to open in the East Village (and NYC) in recent months. (And we haven't mentioned the new one now on the NW corner of First Avenue and 10th Street.)

Of course, none of these operations are legal just yet. 

As Emily Stewart wrote in a piece for Vox last week titled "New York seems to have a weed store on every corner. None of them are legal.": 

New York City’s crisp autumn air has a distinct scent to it, and this year that scent is weed. Many of the city streets have a fresh look to them, too — marijuana and cannabis products are for sale, out in the open, everywhere. New York legalized recreational marijuana in the spring of 2021, but the state is still in the process of doling out licenses to legally sell it, which makes the situation ... confusing.

And... 

 "None of them are compliant, none of them are allowed," said Aaron Ghitelman, a spokesperson for New York state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), in an interview. "They're jumping the gun."

Meanwhile, as Gothamist reported, nearly 1,000 cannabis entrepreneurs are competing for New York's first 150 dispensary licenses ... "all of which will be reserved for people with past marijuana convictions or their family members."

As for this corner of 11th Street and First Avenue, the last retail tenant was Eleven Consignment Boutique, which closed amid a legal battle in November 2019.

Paint Puff 'N' Peace coming soon to 2nd Avenue

For anyone who says the neighborhood is going to pot! 

Singage for Paint Puff "N" Peace arrived this week at 128 Second Ave. just south of St. Mark's Place...

This is the latest outpost for the cannabis shop, which first opened in East Harlem last fall —and with endorsements via Nick Cannon and Fat Joe, per The City. (Paint Puff 'N' Peace takes the EV space from the Village Dream Tattoo and Piercing shop.)

New York legalized marijuana use last spring. However, as The City points out: "Bureaucratic delays — made worse when Andrew Cuomo resigned as governor in August — have pushed back the timeline by months and the city may not see many (or any) pot establishments open their doors for sales in 2022." 

As a workaround in the short-term, businesses offer services such as a curated cannabis concierge service with membership fees, such as at the Empire Cannabis Clubs that opened on Allen Street in January. Higher Empire, which is opening at 71 First Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street, the business is described as a "cannabis club and delivery service." 

This Bloomberg CityLab article from last week addresses many of the challenges budding cannabis entrepreneurs are facing...

Like most states, New York's law requires that dispensaries be a certain distance from schools and houses of worship. These and other expected regulatory requirements for where dispensaries can be located pose a particular challenge in dense New York City, where entrepreneurs say some of the neighborhoods with high expected demand — like Harlem and the Lower East Side — offer very limited available space.

And!

The geography puzzle is just one of a number of real estate hurdles for prospective marijuana entrepreneurs, who face a morass of potential regulatory obstacles — and fierce competition. Although New York's Office of Cannabis Management has released some baseline guidance, like the storefront distancing requirements, there are still a lot of unknowns.

 Top photo by Steven; second photo by Derek Berg

Higher Empire announces itself on 1st Avenue

Photo by Steven 

Higher Empire signage arrived over at 71 First Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street in recent days.

According to the Higher Empire website, the business is described as a "cannabis club and delivery service." 

You can hit the website here for more on the products/services, etc. They have an Instagram account too. 

This storefront was previously Alex Shoe & Watch Repair. Alex never reopened after the PAUSE of March 2020.

At the NYC Cannabis Parade

EVG contributor Stacie Joy was in Union Square yesterday for the annual event … in which an estimated 400 people (that number via the Post) marched down Broadway from 32nd Street to Union Square for an afternoon of festivities…








[Hello Dana Beal]

















From the Post:

[T]he cops adopted a tacit all-toke, no-action policy.

“We have zero arrests, and we don’t plan on having any,” one sergeant told a Post reporter.

Advocates praised the cops’ mellow take on toking as the latest sign New York was inching toward decriminalization.

Last month, Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson warned the NYPD in a memo obtained by The Post that his office would no longer prosecute people caught possessing — or even smoking — marijuana in public.

The grass is always greener on Second Avenue

NYC the Blog reported Friday that a pot plant was found growing here in the wild... Sure, you can click on the NYC the Blog link to find out for yourself where this might be, but I will not be the one to tell you it's on Second Avenue near First Street. No, that wouldn't be the right thing to do. As for looking for it myself, I can neither confirm nor deny that.

Anyway! As NYC the Blog wrote: Is this a public art project meant as wry commentary on how New York City is going to pot?