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Cannabis delivery startup Priscotty is expanding outside of New Mexico for the first time, with the company looking to launch in New York City in late February.
The expansion will be more tempered than Priscotty’s previous launch in Albuquerque, Scott Prisco, CEO of Priscotty, told Albuquerque Business First. The company is starting with only one store in the U.S.’s biggest city.
This strategy is aimed at preventing many of the complications that previously came from expanding too quickly, Prisco said, including issues surrounding different dispensary technology platforms with their “own quirks.”
“We, basically, quickly realized that more dispensaries doesn’t mean more sales,” Prisco said. “A lot of the dispensaries carry the same products. So as long as we have great partners, that’s the foundation of the success.”
Priscotty’s first New York partner is still to be selected, with the company currently soliciting interested companies.
Prisco said he’s eyeing Queens or Brooklyn due to their more residential nature. Those boroughs are more accessible from an operations standpoint, he said, with the company being able to use the lessons it’s learned in New Mexico more effectively in them.
“It’s a little bit more spread out in that sense, where it’s more maneuverable,” Prisco said. “It’s more closer to an Albuquerque setting than [Manhattan]. I think that’s kind of what we’re looking for.”
New York’s cannabis market has seen a rocky start. The state’s first legal dispensary opened in late 2022, but the issuing of new licenses slowed to a crawl soon after in the wake of a number of lawsuits claiming the government’s preference toward people with prior drug convictions was illegal. License issuing has started to ramp up after a recent court ruling, but challenges still remain for those looking to open up shop in the Empire State.
Priscotty’s expansion was initially delayed due to these issues and Prisco acknowledged there’s still challenges for the state’s cannabis market. But he said the advantages New York City offers his company are invaluable.
In addition to the sheer number of potential customers living in the city, Prisco said making it in the Big Apple could show potential investors that Priscotty can make it in even the toughest of markets.
“The goal was to prove the model in New Mexico, in a smaller state. And I think that [New York] is the higher-growth market with more potential long-term,” Prisco said. “I think that there’s a lot of hype around New York and New Jersey, and I think that it puts us in a position to gain that attention.”
After New York, Prisco said the company is eyeing markets like Ohio and Missouri — two states that legalized adult-use as recently as November.
Priscotty recently launched bulk orders in a partnership with dispensary chain Best Daze.
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Cannabis delivery company Priscotty expands outside New Mexico for first time – Albuquerque Business First – The Business Journals
