This coalition of legacy operators is united and ready to thrive in New York’s legal market.

It’s been almost four years since cannabis was legalized for all adults in New York—and two years since the state’s first adult-use store opened. But many of New York’s first licensed dispensary owners are still fighting for a fair shake on the legal market.

To balance the odds, Flower City Dispensary owners Britni and Jayson Tantalo unified the New York Retail Cannabis Association (NYCRA). The NYCRA comprises hundreds of dispensary owners determined to make the most of New York’s historic licensing program. In 2021, the state’s MRTA law put those most impacted by cannabis prohibition first in line for dispensary licenses. But the road to opening has been full of unforeseen challenges.

NYCRA co-founder and president Britni Tantalo told Leafly that “stringent marketing and packaging regulations, limited indoor cultivation and canopy capacity, and the early entry of large out of state companies to the market put a burden on local operators.” NYCRA leaders believe the current regulations are stopping locally-owned dispensaries from growing into sustainable businesses.

This year, NYCRA and Leafly partnered to help New York dispensaries navigate the many challenges facing the new legal market. Keep reading to see how we’re helping New York dispensaries bounce back, and reach out to NYCRA to learn more about joining their community of cannabis operators.

The challenges of opening New York’s first adult-use dispensaries

Of the 463 licenses granted in the first round so far, only 227 are open for business. Another 1,400 or so license applicants are waiting for the state’s approval to open—but it could take until 2026 for all of them to be reviewed.

Many applicants had to secure and pay for their store’s property before receiving their license. That means some have been paying rent on commercial spaces for months without any assurances on when they’d be approved to open, if at all.

The Tantalos waited two years for approval to open Flower City before getting the green light. To make matters worse, they watched unlicensed shops spread like wildfire while they paid rent for a legal shop they couldn’t operate.

“We had to borrow against our homes, borrow from family and friends and/or downsize operations [just] to open a location. It placed everyone in a position of financial constraint and therefore mental and emotional instability.”

Britni Tantalo, Flower City Dispensary

To weather the storm, members of the New York Cannabis Retail Association embrace a philosophy of collaboration over competition.

NYCRA Vice President Jayson Tantalo explains, “We share valuable resources such as business plans, SOPs, along with just emotional support, which have proven essential for licensed operators who may not know where to start.”

Here’s why hundreds of NY dispensary openings have been delayed

In the Bronx, the House of Hibernica endured multiple delays before finally being cleared to open this April. “It was a whole year from when we applied for the license, to opening,” said Hibernica co-owner Bojan Trpcevski. “We had to have a store so we could apply. Then the injunction happened in 2022. So we were paying rent for a year,” Trpcevski said.

In November 2022, a judge blocked hundreds of stores from opening for six months as part of a controversial injunction. The lawsuit that caused the injunction was filed by an out of state resident who said the program’s social equity requirements violated the US constitution.

Just as the first applicants were being approved to open in 2022, multipleinjunctions placed the rollout in jeopardy. Dispensary owners were on the hook for real estate, operations costs, and private investments. Delays compounded as the state’s resources and attention went to the court case. When the first injunctions finally began to lift in May 2023, the plaintiff in one case received a license as part of a settlement agreement. By then, many owners were already 6 months behind their business projections.

Then, this October, a group of unlicensed dispensaries that were shut down for allegedly selling cannabis without a license also took the state to court, and won. They claimed they were put out of business without receiving due process as part of Mayor Eric Adams’ Operation Padlock, which has reportedly padlocked over 1,000 unlicensed shops since kicking off this spring. Last month, a judge ruled that the operation “stands against the cornerstone of American democracy and procedural due process.” The ruling could encourage unlicensed shops to re-open, adding uncertainty for operators as newly-approved stores open almost daily.

Operators like Budega’s Alex Norman have had no time to place their dreams on hold. “I started my brand three years ago in anticipation of an opportunity like this,” Norman told Leafly days after the injunction came down. “But I’m not gonna say it’s gonna stop me.” Over a year after the injunction and still not open, Norman remains dedicated to seeing things through with Budega after decades in the legacy market.

House of Hibernica’s team said they had no idea it would be this difficult when they started the process of applying. “We thought it would be similar to the restaurant business,” Trpcevski said, “because we opened a few before. We didn’t expect that we were going to wait so long, and that every small thing is going to stop the whole process.”

How much is a New York dispensary license worth?

The unforeseen delays have some license holders thinking about selling equity, or their entire license to the highest bidder. “The valuation is running from $600,000 to $800,000,” according to Daron Hudson, owner of Brooklyn Legends Dispensary, which is licensed and waiting to open. “If you have a location secured, it’s going up to $2,000,000,” Hudson told Leafly this fall.

Hudson is also a board member at Housing Works, New York’s first retail dispensary, which opened in December 2022. But opening his own store has proven much more difficult than getting the well-known nonprofit off the ground.

To help with start-up costs, the state originally promised owners a private equity fund to support store build outs. But the fund failed to launch.

“The access to capital and other resources that were promised to all of us CAURD applicants was simply not there. When you are promised a turnkey dispensary with low interest rates and access to grants from your state regulators, you don’t plan to obtain these things for yourself. When we realized that the promises were not going to be fulfilled anytime soon, if at all, we had no choice but to pivot. Most of us could not find investors because investor confidence was low due to the failed rollout.”

Britni Tantalo, Flower City Dispensary

Now, a new loan fund may provide some relief. But Hudson and other owners have already begun vetting investors who can help them get opened. And they’re finding that these new potential partners have far more leverage than the state’s regulations intended.

How NYCRA and Leafly are helping New York dispensaries thrive

Leafly is proud to help bring New York dispensary owners new legal customers from across the state. Jayson Tantalo said dispensaries need help creating “brand recognition and demonstrating what legal cannabis looks like here in New York.” That’s why we’re leaning into content and activations that represent the very best of New York cannabis.

Our content partnerships with stores like Good Grades and Trends use the power of Leafly’s strain and product database to help keep shoppers informed about what they’re buying. In-person activations around the state are also helping first-time legal shoppers discover the top dispensaries and cultivators in their area. With the both the state, and federal laws, limiting the ways dispensaries and cannabis brands can advertise, every new customers counts.

“Partnering with Leafly brings tremendous value to our organization. Advertising and marketing are extremely difficult to navigate and complex to understand. By providing this platform to our members. With almost 20 years of experience in search engine optimization, I understand the challenges involved in effectively advertising. The terms being offered by Leafly to our members are particularly valuable because they make customers more accessible.”

Jayson Tantalo, Vice President of NYCRA and co-owner of Flower City Dispensary

Leafly and NYCRA also work closely with store operators to analyze data that improves their performance. We’re going the extra mile to make the cannabis industry accessible for all – including those negatively impacted by the failed war on drugs.

“I had Leafly before the legal industry even started,” said Hudson. “It was for the strains. Back in the legacy era, if somebody was selling me cannabis and said this is purple something, I’d go see what purple is on Leafly.”

Since 2010, Leafly has provided cannabis patients, users, growers, advocates, and researchers with groundbreaking data that’s helped normalize the plant in 38 legal states and over 40 counties. With New York City consuming more cannabis than any other city in the world, the state’s new legal market presents an enormous opportunity for residents and visitors to safely and responsibly support local growers and sellers.

Now let’s get to work!

Click here to find your closest New York legal dispensaries on Leafly.

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This budding dispensary in Pelham Bay is expanding delivery access with free orders across the Bronx and southern Westchester County. Don’t miss out.

In April, House of Hibernica became the ninth Bronx dispensary to open its doors. In just six months, Hibernica has become a neighborhood favorite. Now all this month, the store is expanding access to legal cannabis with free deliveries across the Bronx.

Hibernica’s community events cater to the local neighborhood’s tastes, including watch parties to celebrate local sports teams like the Knicks and Yankees. This summer, Hibernica offered a free car wash with every purchase over $50 on Saturdays.

This summer, droves of new customers discovered the Hibernica after unlicensed shops nearby were shut down. With Halloween around the corner, and the Yankees and Mets surging, House of Hibernica is inviting all Bronx-bud lovers to place a free delivery order this October, or to come visit in person.

Staying close to the plant

House of Hibernica Inventory manager Chris Ortiz told the Bronx Times, “It feels like a dream job. My wife asks me how was work and I say work was great. I love my job. You have become part of the community. You’re no longer their dealer. You’re a business man.”

Hibernica’s General Manager Bojan Trpcevski told Leafly, “The first time I used cannabis was in my early 20s. At that time, it was a bad thing where I was from in Macedonia. Over there, you still have to look over your shoulder when you light a joint. It used to be that you would go to jail for a joint.” In 2016, Macedonia legalized medical marijuana. By then, Trpcevski was working in the hospitality industry in New York.

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“When COVID happened, everything with the restaurants stopped.” he told Leafly. “So we had an idea to get involved in the cannabis industry. We knew the basics, but I wanted to see the whole thing. So I went to Humboldt County in California and got familiar with the whole process. From the seed, the whole plant, to how it’s grown. Then the restaurants reopened after COVID and we continued doing that. When we heard it was going to be legalized, the opportunity came up to get into that business.”

House of healing

When Trpcevski’s dad got cancer, he urged his father to try the plant. Trpcevski said, “While my father was going through the therapy, I was trying to explain to him that cannabis would help him out with pain.” To Trpcevski’s suprise, his dad said: “‘No, that’s drugs. I don’t want that.’But then a friend of his, who’s a doctor said the cannabis oil might be helpful. So he comes to me one day and says, ‘How can I get this?’”

Trpcevski is visibly frustrated, but relieved by the outcome. “I was telling you this for a year,” he told his dad. “The older generation, it’s more work for them to understand that cannabis can be helpful for them. Now, every night my dad takes a little cannabis oil. He tells me, ‘I sleep like a baby. This is amazing!’”

Another Hibernica employee added to the stories of family healing: “The Calm vape from Ayrloom brought so much comfort and calm to the whole family, not just my parent who was going through cancer.”

Trpcevski said he also saw his restaurant patrons advocating for the plant. “When I was working at the bar, I had a customer who was using indica all the time for a serious illness,” he told Leafly. “He was telling me that it’s really helpful for him. So once people get more knowledgeable about the product, it’s easier for them to accept and try cannabis.”

The long road to opening

Like most New York dispensaries, House of Hibernica went through a rollercoaster of emotions before being cleared to open this spring. “It was a whole year from when we applied for the license to opening,” said Trpcevski. “We had to have a store so we could apply. Then the injunction happened in 2022. So we were paying rent for a year.”

Trpcevski said his team “had no idea it would be this difficult. We thought it would be similar to the restaurant business, because we opened a few before. We thought it would be similar. I didn’t expect that we were going to wait so long, and every small thing is going to stop the whole process.”

In addition to the delays, some neighbors were unwelcoming at first. “A lot of people over here were hesitant to come in. They thought it was another illegal smoke shop. We spent a lot of time telling people this is a legal dispensary. Even when we presented our plan to the community board before we opened. A lot of people said, ‘Oh no, another one.’ So we got yelled at and booed by the community board. But we tried to explain that it’s not what they think.”

Trpcevski is proud to say: “I speak to people from that meeting now, and they say, ‘Now we know what you’re talking about. This is great.’ And we have people from this community working here–80% of my staff are from the Bronx. We even will have a neighborhood band that comes and plays music.”

The challenges of running a New York dispensary

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For all the triumphs of finally opening, there are still challenges. Like customers who aren’t used to shopping legal.

Trpcevski said many new customers are “used to buying 8ths for $20 on the street, or from illegal smoke shops. Everyday, we try to explain to people that this is not the same product. It goes through a laboratory, every single item has all these certificates. And we have to pay taxes on top of that. So that’s why the product is a higher price.” With the flood of new business this summer, the Hibernica team was sometimes spending 10 to 15 minutes educating new customers.

There are more challenges to the early days of running a dispensary. Hibernica’s team said “some medical patients don’t want to shop here because we don’t require medical licenses, so they’re confused. They think we’re not legit.”

“When we publicized our grand opening online, the only platforms we could use were cannabis marketplaces like Leafly, since we were not on Google. From day one, we were all blown away by the reception of the community. All of the neighbors were coming in like, ‘We’ve been waiting for you guys!’”

Allie Caney, House of Hibernica