East End Cannabis Dispensaries Start Taking Root

Several more recreational cannabis dispensaries are about to come to the Town of Southampton, where Brown Buddha recently opened in Hampton Bays the first New York State-licensed pot shop on the East End.

One of the next shops expected to open will likely be in Bridgehampton, a place to be called Bud Hampton, owned by Greg Konnor, a 60-year-old East End builder. He is a businessman first but plans to make it a family affair operating along with his 30-year-old son, Dakota, and his wife, Genelle. He is renovating a former Carvel store for use as a dispensary and says he thinks he will be open for business by the summer.

“I think it will be profitable,” he tells Dan’s Papers.

Konnor’s is one of six applications pending before the Southampton Town Planning Board. The town’s zoning only allows such shops to be in highway business and shopping center business zones.

Under New York State law, municipalities could opt in, opt out or take neither action regarding marijuana dispensaries. Most decided to opt out. Southampton is one of four towns to opt in. The other three are the towns of Riverhead, Brookhaven and Babylon. Of 36 entities licensed to open such retailers in Nassau and Suffolk counties, only five have opened so far.

Municipalities can put limits on a cannabis store’s hours of operation, appearance and location. The stores are not allowed to use cartoons, bubble-type font or neon colors in their advertising. Sales to anyone under 21 are prohibited.

They are not allowed to use words in advertisements such as weed or pot unless those words are already in a store’s name. All marijuana sold in stores must be grown in the state. The stores must be at least 500 feet from schools and at least 200 feet from places of worship.

For municipalities, there is the tax revenue from the shops to consider. While many municipalities said they found the possibility of additional revenue enticing, in many cases, they bowed to the voice of residents, who expressed disapproval.

Other than the shop planned for Bridgehampton, the others pending are in Hampton Bays, Southampton Village, Water Mill and two in Tuckahoe. Marijuana proponents are enthusiastic about the future of the industry on the East End.

“It’s not a matter of if anymore, but when,” David Falkowski, owner of Open Minded Organics in Bridgehampton, tells Dan’s Papers. “There’s no going back now.”

Falkowski urged that now is the time for residents and officials to decide on ways to deal with keeping marijuana out of the hands of teenagers and how much resources to devote to anti-drug and alcohol programs at high schools and junior high schools.

“There should be a call to action,” Falkowski says. “Let’s start talking about what to do now.”

At a panel discussion on the marijuana issue in Southampton earlier this fall, Falkowski said the industry appears to be on the verge of booming on Long Island. He said the state’s rollout of a program to allow dispensaries was slow and often chaotic, but that Gov. Kathy Hochul has managed to iron out the problems.

Not everyone feels they are out of the woods yet. Brian Stark of Metropolis is in the works of hopefully opening in Riverhead soon, but is facing struggles.

“[The Long Island Cannabis Coalition] spent about four months in Riverhead, speaking with the council members, going to the cannabis advisory board meetings, to their community meetings,” Stark says. “We got no pushback from anyone in the community.” But after the town enacted restrictive setbacks, Stark was now not allowed to open.

“We took a step back when we heard [the state Office of Cannabis Management] say they were going to issue an opinion advisory letter,” he says.

While waiting for the letter, Stark has continued to plan for opening, following all other regulations needed. Eventually they will have a zoning board hearing where they will either be granted permission to open or Stark says he’s ready to sue.

“This is the law; you need to follow the law, you opted in and this is what you’re supposed to do,” he says.

Kym Laube, executive director of HUGS (Human Understanding and Growth Services), tells Dan’s Papers that she expressed strong opposition to marijuana dispensaries.

“We fought against the dispensaries,” Laube says. “But unfortunately, the (marijuana) industry made everyone feel we would be leaving all this money on the table, which was not true. But our concern is health and drugs and alcohol prevention.”

A number of residents in the town have expressed disappointment at how the town handled the issue in 2022. But marijuana sales are not new in Southampton. The Shinnecock Nation has 10 such shops on its territory off Montauk Highway. The Nation operates outside of New York State’s licensing system.

Shop owners say their stores are highly profitable. Yuvraj Singh owns a shop in Farmingdale, Strain Stars, which was the first state-licensed cannabis dispensary on Long Island to open and has grossed several million dollars since it opened in July 2023. He aims to open this fall another in Riverhead that will be 14,000 square feet, which he says will be the largest store of its kind in the state.

“Will there be competition?” he says. “Yes, but competition is great. We consider it all a very close-knit family. Everyone is getting in on this.”

-With additional reporting by Alyssa Griffin