The city can now fine landlords for renting storefronts to unlicensed cannabis shops

Photo from June by Stacie Joy 

As of yesterday, a new city law is now in effect that holds commercial landlords responsible for renting storefronts to unlicensed cannabis shops. 

Introduction 1001-B, known as Local Law 107 of 2023, prohibits owners of commercial spaces from knowingly leasing to unlicensed sellers of marijuana or tobacco products, imposing fines of up to $10,000 on landlords for violations. 

The legislation followed a Council oversight hearing on the growing problem of unlicensed smoke shops operating across the city. The bill was passed on June 22. 

In a statement by Queens Councilmember Lynn Schulman, chair of the Council's Health Committee and prime sponsor of the unlawful cannabis shop enforcement legislation: 

"My recently enacted legislation ... will help shut down the illegal cannabis and smoke shops that have proliferated our city and created public health and safety hazards in our communities. This legislation is a game changer and adds another tool to the enforcement toolbox against these harmful businesses." 

Per a media advisory about the newly enacted law: 

... agencies that conduct inspections for unlicensed marijuana or tobacco sales and find such activity may provide written notice to the property owner requiring they ensure such unlicensed activity is ceased, serving as the basis of the violation. Any subsequent inspection that finds continued violation would make the landlord subject to a $5,000 civil penalty at first, and a $10,000 penalty for each subsequent violation. The commencement of an eviction proceeding shall be considered an affirmative defense for a landlord.

It is estimated that New York City is home to approximately 8,000 illegal, unlicensed smoke shops [ed note: half of which seem to be in the East Village]. Consequently, sales by illicit stores undermine the licensed recreational marijuana market, depriving New Yorkers of the tax revenues and community reinvestment funds generated from the 13% tax on legal sales. The products sold in unlawful stores are unregulated and therefore can pose health risks to consumers.

As we've seen in previous months, shops that have been raided-fined have eventually resumed operations, new shops have risen from the ashes of shuttered venues, or new businesses with increasingly cutesy names arrive down the block.

Meanwhile, to avoid detection, several readers have noted at least two shops have removed their signage and only open in the evenings when a coordinated raid is less likely. 

Something to frown about at Smileys

Photos by Steven

Smileys at 199 Avenue A is the latest unlicensed cannabis shop to get busted in a multi-agency sweep last week.

An array of legal notices are affixed to the storefront (and semi-obscured by the rolldown gate) here between 12th Street and 13th Street...

Smileys, which opened at the start of the year and describes itself as a "wellness shop," remained closed over the weekend. 

As we've seen, shops that have been raided-fined have eventually resumed operations, new shops have risen from the ashes of shuttered venues, or new businesses with increasingly cutesy names arrive down the block.

Meanwhile, to avoid detection, several readers have noted at least two shops have removed their signage and only open in the evenings when a coordinated raid is less likely.

With a new law in place late in the spring, New York State — via the Office of Cannabis Management and Department of Taxation and Finance — ramped up efforts to shut down businesses selling cannabis without a license. 

However, as NY1 pointed out on July 14, of "the 22 stores that were issued violations in the city, only six have closed down. Most reopened for business and continue to openly sell cannabis in violation of the law." Gothamist has more on the enforcement success here.

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The City recently published a piece titled, Your Guide to Legal Cannabis in New York City.

A Smoke House for Avenue A

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Updated: The shop opened on June 24

A weed-smoke shop called Smoke House is in the works for the smallish retail space on Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street... previously part of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater's East Village outpost, UCBeast.

The new shop is nestled between Two Boots and O'Flaherty's, the newish gallery-performance space. 

This arrival comes as New York State has ramped up cracking down on unlicensed cannabis shops in NYC.

More unlicensed cannabis shops busted in the East Village

Top photo by Derek Berg 

On the past two Wednesdays, a contingent of law enforcement officers has busted several unlicensed cannabis shops in the East Village. 

You may have noticed the "Illegal Cannabis Seized" posters affixed to the storefronts...

Last week's visits included a shop on Second Avenue near Fourth Street (photos by Stacie Joy) ... and First Avenue near Ninth Street. These businesses remain closed, though others that were fined in the past have reopened.

Yesterday's action targeted the dispensary on the SE corner of First Avenue and 11th Street (photos below by William Klayer) ...

More crackdown tactics are on the way. 

As Gothamist reported on June 13: "More than half of the City Council's members are sponsoring a bill that will lead to serious penalties for people who knowingly lease space to unlicensed sellers of marijuana, tobacco and other controlled substances." 

And fines for selling marijuana without a license could eventually hike up to $20,000 daily. 

From a June 8 press release from NY State:

"New York is proud to have undertaken the most equitable legal cannabis roll-out in the nation and the State will not stand idle as unlicensed operators break the law and sell untested products to underage New Yorkers," Gov. Hochul said. "These enforcement actions are critical steps to protect and help those individuals who were promised a shot to start a legal business and be successful. Additionally, these unlicensed operators undermine the State's efforts to generate substantial funds for a social equity fund that will go into the communities that have been hardest hit by over-prosecution of the cannabis laws in the past." 

This afternoon, Gov. Hochul announced that inspectors from the Cannabis Management and Department of Taxation and Finance issued violations to 21 stores in Manhattan and seized nearly $11 million worth of "illicit products" this month.

Hochul said that "some of the unregulated product was found to be marketed to kids and contain toxic chemicals, E. coli, and other contaminants," the Post reported. 

"I want to be aggressive; I want to get this done," she said. "I want to send a message loud and clear across this state that if you're operating illegally, you will be caught, and you will be stopped. We're going to work together and enforce the law quickly and aggressively and shut these bad actors down."

Previously on EV Grieve:

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

Noted

It looks like the latest unlicensed weed shop is going by Green Dispensary here on the SE corner of First Avenue and 10th Street. (Thanks to Steven for the photo!)

More retail spaces are arriving even as Mayor Adams and DA Bragg are cracking down on illegal storefront operations by targeting the landlords. 

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

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. 

Report: Incoming legal cannabis dispensary drawing opposition on 3rd Street

Photo by Steven

One of the city's next legal cannabis dispensaries is opening in April at 3 E. Third St., just east of the Bowery.

According to published reports, the dispensary coming to the ground-floor retail of this newish condoplex is Gotham, whose license holder is the nonprofit Strive, which "provides job training and other services to the formerly incarcerated." The organization was founded in East Harlem in 1984. (Strive is one of eight nonprofits in the state to receive marijuana licenses this past November.) 

The location has reportedly drawn opposition from management at Project Renewal, which operates a men's shelter and an in-patient substance abuse treatment on the block. 

Per NY1:

"Our clients come and go from this program on a daily basis," said Gabriel Woodhouse, program director with Project Renewal. "It's literally within sight line. I mean, it's right across the street from the front door of our program."

Technically, the restaurant Gemma and the Bowery Hotel is directly across the street from 3 E. Third St.

In addition, Community Board 3 passed a resolution stating that it would only approve the license at a different location. (This CB3 decision is only advisory.)

In any event, Gotham's management team wasn't having any of this. Joanne Wilson, manager of the project, told NY1 that they are moving forward with plans to open this spring.

As NY1 points out, the dispensary is subject to strict state regulations with limited signage (unlike the garish illegal operations), and cannabis products won't be visible outside the store.

"There will not be smoke that's being pumped out on the street. There won't be music that's being pumped out in the street," Wilson said. "Yes, there will be people, and there will be people shopping. But it's not anything but just a store."

The Housing Works Cannabis Co. store — New York's first legal recreational marijuana market — opened to great fanfare and long lines on Dec. 29 on Broadway at Eighth Street in a former Gap retail space. 

The future of the unlicensed weed vendors

The Housing Works Cannabis Co. store — New York's first legal recreational marijuana market — opened to great fanfare and long lines this past Thursday on Broadway at Eighth Street in a former Gap retail space. 

So what might happen in the months ahead to the numerous unlicensed sellers who have popped up all over the East Village and every other city neighborhood? 

Curbed had a piece on this topic the other day titled: "The Weed Bodega Was Beautiful While It Lasted." 

[P]er New York's Office of Cannabis Management, the era of the weed bodega — the tacky, snack-filled corner-store purveyor, like the regular bodega's stoner cousin — is about to be over. Instead, the state's legal weed retailers will be subject to an extremely long list of regulations that includes rules on everything from location to security to aesthetics. 

The compliance requirements will undoubtedly be onerous and expensive for many of the operators vying for licenses, but the décor rules in particular seem designed to kill the gray-market upstarts that flooded the city in the beautiful, wild period between decriminalization and the rollout of official licenses. 

It's as if regulators walked into a humble weed bodega — Cloudy Vibez, Weed 4 U, Kannabis Korner — and banned everything they saw: "cartoons," "bubble-type or other cartoon-like font," "bright colors," "neon," the terms "candy" or "candies," "kandy" or "kandeez," and "symbols, images, characters, public figures, phrases, toys, or games" commonly marketed to people under 21. 

Also barred are signs or business names "depicting cannabis, cannabis products, or the imagery or action of smoking or vaping." As the city begins to enforce these rules in earnest, the welcoming visage of a rasta Alvin the Chipmunk will begin to disappear from our streetscape. 

Meanwhile, the city is cracking down on the illegal shops ... not to mention the sidewalk vendors, as seen on St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

This past Dec. 7, we received multiple EVG reader tips about busts underway at East Village shops (photo below by Derek Berg) ...

As Gothamist reported, the Sheriff's Interagency Enforcement Task Force has been cracking down on the shops citywide. 

Per the site: 

The task force is led by the sheriff's office — the enforcement arm of the city's Department of Finance — and also includes the police department, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, and the state Office of Cannabis Management.

Mayor Eric Adams announced the creation of the task force in mid-December. In a two-week span, officials said at the time, the task force had inspected 53 storefronts across the city and seized more than 100,000 illegal products worth about $4 million. Officials also issued 500 civil violations and 66 criminal summonses over that time, Sheriff Anthony Miranda said. All told, the city has conducted 248 store inspections, including 23 in December, through Dec. 29.

Another factor in the potential demise of the unlicensed shops: a survey (results here) conducted by the New York Medical Cannabis Industry Association found the presence of potentially deadly E. coli, salmonella and pesticides in many products from 20 unlicensed stores that publicly advertise selling marijuana, as Bloomberg reported. 

As the Post noted, the study also found that there are "likely tens of thousands of illicit cannabis businesses currently out of bodegas, smoke shops, or other retail locations" that are licensed to sell other products. 

 

So as the enforcement becomes stricter and the fines pile up, what will the owners of the unlicensed businesses do moving forward — especially if their shops, many looking like a set-piece from "Bullet Train," don't meet the state's requirements? What kind of empty storefront surplus might be upon us in the months ahead if smoke shops don't open in every vacant space?

Top photo from Dec. 29 by Steven

Thursday's parting shots

Today at 4:20 p.m., the state's first legal retail pot dispensary — run by the nonprofit Housing Works Cannabis Co. — opened its doors on Broadway at Eighth Street on Astor Place. 

Multiple EVG readers shared photos of the epic lines, which stretched back to Lafayette Street...

The Housing Works store is the first and only one with the state’s official seal for cannabis dispensaries. 

After today, the shop is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

New York's first legal sale of recreational weed took place in a dispensary in Manhattan on Thursday, just meeting deadline to open a store in 2022. Housing Works Cannabis Co. is the first and only licensed dispensary to open in the state this year.https://t.co/yoPqNxRHzz

— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 29, 2022

Top photo by @unitof; second photo by Steven

The city's first legal, regulated adult-use cannabis shop opens Thursday on Astor Place

ICYMI: The city's first legal cannabis recreational dispensary opens tomorrow (Thursday) at 750 Broadway at Eighth Street on Astor Place inside a former Gap retail space. 

The business, Housing Works Cannabis Co., "will initially stand out among a sea of unlicensed vendors as the only retail location in the city selling regulated, pre-tested marijuana products," per Gothamist. 

The grand opening tomorrow is at 4:20 p.m. (For real.) Housing Works Cannabis Co, will then be open seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and provide in-store service and delivery. Hours will adjust in the coming weeks. Learn more here.

 

Here's more about the business and building via Gov. Hochul's office: 

The storefront operated by Housing Works is located at 750 Broadway in the Astor Place neighborhood. All proceeds from dispensary sales will be directed to parent organization Housing Works, Inc., founded in 1990 to address the dual crises of HIV/AIDS and homelessness. The self-sustaining nonprofit provides job opportunities, legal advocacy, and comprehensive housing and health services funded, in part, by revenues from its thrift stores, SoHo bookstore, and now its cannabis dispensary. 

With a focus on compassion and dispelling stigmas, Housing Works endeavors to move the cannabis industry forward by supporting the practical needs of its community through an equity-driven and harm-reduction approach. 

Spanning 4,400 square feet, the iconic building where the dispensary will be, known as 1 Astor Place, was completed in 1883. Housing Works Cannabis Co will welcome patrons with an introductory shopping experience upon opening, with plans to carefully build out an expanded and thoughtfully curated space as cannabis products become more available.

To date, the New York State Cannabis Control Board has approved 36 Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary Licenses, including 28 for qualifying businesses and eight for nonprofits.

Are you ready to Puff & Pass?

Another week, another incoming smoke shop. 

Signage went up on Saturday (H/T Steven!) for Puff & Pass at 50 Second Ave. adjacent to Proto Pizza at Third Street.

Puff & Pass joins other new like-minded businesses in the East Village, including Smokers Zone 1, Manhattan Smoke Shop, Higher Empire, Paint Puff 'N' Peace, Smart Smokers and Bong World. 

No. 50 was previously home to Cloud99 Vapes, which closed in early 2020. 

Noted

Smart Smokers has (quickly) opened at 143 First Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street... another smoke-related shop — one of many that have popped up around this neighborhood and others in recent months. 

The signage also changes colors...

The space was last Flamingos Vintage Pound, which closed for good during the pandemic. 

Thanks to Steven for the photos

Noted

On East 10th Street a little bit ago. Photo by John Iz. Turns out this fellow isn't exactly a trailblazer on the weed sign front. Check out this article from the Daily News.

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?