The state’s first licensed cannabis dispensaries are at least several weeks away from opening their doors, but in the meantime, a new pop-up showroom in the Bronx is offering a preview of what the retail experience will look like.

The full-scale replica is largely targeted at those looking to break into the industry.

“There are people applying for licenses that don’t know what this industry looks like. They’ve never been to a dispensary — a legal dispensary,” said Desmon Lewis, co-founder of the Bronx Community Foundation. “And so we said, ‘Well, that’s pretty crazy.’”


What You Need To Know

  • A new pop-up showroom in the Bronx features a full-scale mock-up of a cannabis dispensary

  • The state has said the first of 36 licensed dispensaries will be up and running by the end of the year

  • On Friday state regulators said license holders can seek their own retail locations, rather than those selected by the state Dormitory Authority

  • The state also issued detailed regulations for cannabis delivery services, which licensees can begin offering soon

So the Bronx Community Foundation, along with several non-profit and business partners, created the Bronx Dispensary Showroom a mock-up featuring everything from accessories and merchandise to cutting-edge software — everything but the cannabis itself.

Vendors are also on hand, performing product demonstrations.

“A customer picks up a product that they’re interested in, places it near the screen, and then the screen populates with all the information about that product,” said Jen Dye, co-founder of The Peak Beyond, as she demonstrated one of her company’s interactive retail displays.

Last month, the state’s Cannabis Control Board awarded the first 36 dispensary licenses. The state Dormitory Authority has been charged with finding retail spaces and building out the dispensaries, but so far only one location, on 125th Street in Harlem, has been identified.

On Friday state regulators announced license holders are now free to seek their own retail locations, rather than those selected by the Dormitory Authority.

Dispensaries are subject to strict regulations, including when it comes to security.

A store design like that of the Bronx showroom “would require like 25 cameras, plus access control devices,” said Tony Gallo of Sapphire Risk Advisory Group, a security provider.

Also Friday, state regulators issued detailed guidelines for cannabis delivery services, which licensees can begin offering in advance of securing a store location. The state has said the first dispensaries will open by year’s end.

“Within nine months, we are seeing from nothing in the ground, to having stores just about ready to open here in our city,” said Tremaine Wright, chairwoman of the Cannabis Control Board.

Wright and several non-profit leaders and elected officials spoke at a news conference Friday launching the showroom, which is open to the public through Sunday at the Bronx Central Annex, a historic post office.

One licensee on hand Friday was impressed with the showroom.

“For me, just to see it visually, in New York, not in Massachusetts or California, but in New York, it’s major,” said Matthew Robinson, a license holder from the Albany area.

“The other thing that’s important about this event is that it’s happening in the Bronx,” said Meisha Porter, president and chief executive officer of the Bronx Community Foundation. “The Bronx has been a community most greatly criminally justice impacted by cannabis laws, and so we want to make sure Bronxites also have the opportunity to benefit from the business opportunities.”